2034: A Novel of the Next World War by Elliot Ackerman and James G. Stavridis @elliotackerman @stavridisj @absltmom

My review

Growing up in a time where the threat of nuclear war between the US and Russia was a daily worry, I was well prepared for the story Mr Ackerman was going to tell. He and his co-writer, Admiral James Stavridis are certainly two men who were more than capable of looking into and describing how this third world war could start and end.

As always, there are no real winners in war just piles of bodies and people bereft because of loss and fear. As this war begins, it is the US and China where it starts and as tensions escalate we see the emergence of the reality of what happens when a country relies too much on technology, a technology, as we have seen, which can be constantly attacked and hacked. Shut down a country’s technological capabilities and you literally shut down their ability to defend themselves. Clearly in this story there is a warning that as progressed as we seem to think technology has carried us, it can also be the cause of our downfall.

Also vividly pointed out is the human error factor. One small misstep can lead to many others that lead to what these authors have written of. This is a cautionary tale, one that the reader can clearly see happening if we don’t find ways to curtail our all encompassing reliance on technology. This is certainly one of those stories that could sadly come true in the future.

and here are the authors:

Elliot Ackerman served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan and is the recipient of the Silver Star, the

Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. A former White House Fellow, his

essays and fiction have

appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, and Ecotone,

among others. He currently

lives in Istanbul and writes on the Syrian Civil War

A Florida native, Jim Stavridis attended the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, and spent 37 years in the Navy, rising to the rank of 4-star Admiral. Among his many commands were four years as the 16th Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, where he oversaw operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the Balkans, and counter piracy off the coast of Africa. He also commanded US Southern Command in Miami, charged with military operations through Latin America for nearly three years. He was the longest serving Combatant Commander in recent US history. Following his military career, he served for five years as the 12th Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.