In his latest book Earning the Rockies: How Geography Shapes America's Role in the World, best-selling author Robert Kaplan offers a unique combination of travelogue, history, and geopolitical analysis that has become his trademark. In an entirely unconventional way, Kaplan makes a significant and timely contribution to the debate over American foreign policy - a must-read for the next president and the rest of us. Kaplan, a prolific and influential writer for The Atlantic Monthly, joined the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) as a Senior Fellow in March 2008, after serving as the Class of 1960 Distinguished Visiting Professor in National Security at the United States Naval Academy.