5-9-20
Dear Partners in thought,
Knowing that some of you may not have received this blog post on 24th August due to the “heavy” marketing cover in its text that could have sent the email to a SPAM trip, I wanted to make sure that all of you knew about my new book published on Amazon. Please forgive me if you already received this notification, all the more as I approached a few of you directly though a personal email.
“2027”, which describes a potential geopolitical near future, is a “timely” extension of the Desperate Measures blog which was started in 2018 as a reaction to the rise of populism and nationalism around the world, notably in the democratic West, with its easy answers to complex issues.
The 350 page book, which aims at being entertaining and original and provides views on the past from a vantage point of the year 2027, shows what could be and hopefully will not. It shows that electoral and policy decisions do have consequences and that the world order is fragile, all the more after a great pandemic. Major actors and blocs, together with detailed key developments and the shiftings of alliances will be covered creating a highly differentiated world. A detailed Case Study or indeed “book within the book” will also over key themes of the pandemic, also from a geopolitical standpoint. Lessons to be learned and thoughts on key features “that matter” will be drawn (like the importance of history, leadership, voting, mulltilateralism, education) all chapters mixing an analysis of the past with future historical fiction as seen in the eyes of a strong-minded Western liberal observer.
The book is also a scream for a return to an “old normal” which many of us had taken for granted. We live in an imperfect world but one that was held together by many actors that often, if not always, pursued national agendas with a focus on working together, a feature that may no longer be obvious for some leading nations. Lastly and importantly, a strong dose of crazy humour will be found in all chapters as we should always keep smiling and thriving for the best, calling on the better angels of our nature.
Without giving up the full story, I would like to give you a glimpse at the table of contents so you get a feel for the way the book is structured.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
- New America
- Strange Britain
- Unlikely France
- Resurgent Germany
- Newfound Russia
- Resilient European Union
- Withdrawing China
- Other rising and declining powers
- Global challenges and narrow world
- Brave New Monde
- Old duel revisited
- Manifest Destiny redux
- Early backyard clashes
- The forgotten region
- The long overdue crisis
- Going MAD and to the brink
- Asian pivot sliding
- Crossing the line in the sand
- The final roll of the dice
- Lessons to be learned
Case Study: The great pandemic shock of the century
This was a fun piece of work where I was able to bring to bear years of professional and actual and quasi-academic experiences in a way that created a piece of unusual geopolitical fiction. As I wrote and noticed the developments in the real world, I could not help but notice that reality at times was stronger than fiction, however outlandish my scenario.
If you wanted to read the book, I think the timing could not be better, especially with the US election in November and the meandering end ot the Brexit “process”. You will find it on Amazon in your respective geographic locations, either as a book or as Kindle. For completeness, the full references for Amazon US (amazon.com) are shown below:
ISBN – 13:8674933724
In paperback or Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GFPM71Y
However if not in the US, please order through your own Amazon, like amazon.de in Germany, amazon.co.uk in Britain, amazon.fr in France, etc. as Amazon US may not ship to certain countries and the shipping costs could be higher if they did.
Needless to say, self-publishing that I chose as agents were expectedly cautious in our pandemic times (not to mention the first writer syndrome), is an arduous process in terms of marketing, so I am very grateful for your network-targeted word of mouth and social media which could help greatly the dissemination of “2027”.
Trevor Marshall, my trusted fellow Western liberal values warrior and copy-editor, and I would like to thank you very much for your reading and support should you wish to take a wild and crazy ride, all the more before “November”.
Warmest regards,
Serge
Desperate Measures 