When I first saw this book and Mr. Kissinger in interviews on TV promoting this book, I was concerned that it would be a condensed version of his book [b:Diplomacy|781183|Diplomacy|Henry Kissinger|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347455887s/781183.jpg|767204] written over 20 years ago at the end of the Cold War. I couldn't be happier to be so wrong. True, his chapters on Europe and America do hit similar notes, but this is very much about how the great regions of the world, Europe, America, Asia, and the Middle East, have thought about world order in the past and currently and what that means for international diplomacy today and in the future. It is incredibly insightful and his chapters on Asia and the Middle East help to explain the current and future challenges America and the Western world will face in maintaining and imposing the current world order. And in spite of its heady topic, it is also an incredibly accessible read too. Each of the four regions is given two chapter, which explains the history of that region and how it shaped its conception of world order. He then ends it with a chapter on how technologies like nuclear weapons and the internet are challenging and buttressing the current world order and how it will affect future policy choices. His thoughts on how helpful and hurtful popular democracy abetted by the internet, cellular technology, and social media are particularly provoking. At a little less then 400 pages, I highly recommend this to everyone who is interested in the origins of the world's problems today.