Bill Emmott explores one of the most interesting themes in contemporary international relations--how the rivalry between the big Asian powers of Japan, China, and India will change the existing balance of power. The book is full of information, quickly passing from economic to historical and philosophical considerations, and trying to fit them all together to deliver a unitary picture.
Unfortunately, this ambition of fitting too many things into the main account makes the book hard to read at times. The author sometimes carries off on side-issue which seem to be introduced mainly to show off the vastness of his knowledge, with little consideration for the reader. Finally, the book also seems to be written with a certain haste, containing logical structures that are hard to justify by the contents of the sentences, and that are not further explained in the text.
The worst part about the book however is the imprecision in some of the historical statements. Repeating the platitude of the European Communities being formed to prevent future wars may be forgivable in a book that has Asia as its main concern. Representing NATO as "expressly formed in opposition to the other half of Europe, the so-called Warsaw Pact" however is an unforgivable historical imprecision (the Warsaw Pact was formed only in 1955 as a reaction to West Germany joining NATO). Any student would be sent back to the books immediately for such a statement.
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