2034: A Novel of the Next World War

Elliot Ackerman · Admiral James Stavridis, USN

Mar 2021 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

An instant New York Times Bestseller!

“Consider this another vaccine against disaster. Fortunately, this dose won't cause a temporary fever—and it happens to be a rippingly good read.” —Wired

“This crisply written and well-paced book reads like an all-caps warning for a world shackled to the machines we carry in our pockets and place on our laps . . ." —The Washington Post

From two former military officers and award-winning authors, a chillingly authentic geopolitical thriller that imagines a naval clash between the US and China in the South China Sea in 2034—and the path from there to a nightmarish global conflagration.

On March 12, 2034, US Navy Commodore Sarah Hunt is on the bridge of her flagship, the guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones, conducting a routine freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea when her ship detects an unflagged trawler in clear distress, smoke billowing from its bridge. On that same day, US Marine aviator Major Chris "Wedge" Mitchell is flying an F35E Lightning over the Strait of Hormuz, testing a new stealth technology as he flirts with Iranian airspace. By the end of that day, Wedge will be an Iranian prisoner, and Sarah Hunt's destroyer will lie at the bottom of the sea, sunk by the Chinese Navy. Iran and China have clearly coordinated their moves, which involve the use of powerful new forms of cyber weaponry that render US ships and planes defenseless. In a single day, America's faith in its military's strategic pre-eminence is in tatters. A new, terrifying era is at hand.

So begins a disturbingly plausible work of speculative fiction, co-authored by an award-winning novelist and decorated Marine veteran and the former commander of NATO, a legendary admiral who has spent much of his career strategically outmaneuvering America's most tenacious adversaries. Written with a powerful blend of geopolitical sophistication and human empathy, 2034 takes us inside the minds of a global cast of characters--Americans, Chinese, Iranians, Russians, Indians--as a series of arrogant miscalculations on all sides leads the world into an intensifying international storm. In the end, China and the United States will have paid a staggering cost, one that forever alters the global balance of power.

Everything in 2034 is an imaginative extrapolation from present-day facts on the ground combined with the authors' years working at the highest and most classified levels of national security. Sometimes it takes a brilliant work of fiction to illuminate the most dire of warnings: 2034 is all too close at hand, and this cautionary tale presents the reader a dark yet possible future that we must do all we can to avoid.

Ratings and reviews

This book is a good read to a non-expert in military and political theory. Setting it 13 years in the future gives it some flexibility to use some seemingly far-fetched technology. The book stays close to what we already use today -- missiles, carriers, submarines, jets, etc. Everything is just upgraded. The book reads like the TV series "24", jumping between different people and places all dealing with the same set of events. The book feels like a fast paced movie or series. It's because it reads like a movie screenplay that the book doesn't get five stars. It feels a bit shallow in some areas. I would have enjoyed more commentary and exploration of the technology, society, economics, etc. And the ending feels a bit rushed and abrupt as if the author didn't have a good idea of how to conclude. The last chapter jumps a year into the future and has a "and a bunch of stuff happened" vibe to it. Aside from the final act, the rest of the book is an entertaining read.

I will believe the predictions of a former Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR)as plausible, over some random Google book reviewer. Someone who thinks it's a good book for a non expert in military history. These events may or may not happen, but it's a very good possibility given today's events. I agree that it somewhat falls flat regarding character development.

Unrealistic and not engaging. If the book was entertaining and engaging, unrealistic is fine. If the book is realistic and has a point, it can afford to be not engaging. If a book is unrealistic and not engaging....what's the point?

About the author

Admiral Jim Stavridis, USN (Ret.) spent more than thirty years in the US Navy, rising to the rank of four-star admiral. He was Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and previously commanded US Southern Command, overseeing military operations through Latin America. At sea, he commanded a Navy destroyer, a destroyer squadron, and an aircraft carrier battle group in combat. He holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he recently served five years as dean. He received 50 medals in the course of his military career, including 28 from foreign nations. He has published nine previous books, including Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans and Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character, and is Chief International Analyst for NBC News and a contributing editor of TIME Magazine. He is currently vice chairman, global affairs of the Carlyle Group and chairman of the board of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Elliot Ackerman is the author of The Fifth Act, Places and Names, 2034, Red Dress In Black and White, Waiting for Eden, Dark at the Crossing, and Green on Blue. His books have been nominated for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal in both fiction and non-fiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize among others. His writing often appears in Esquire, The New Yorker, and The New York Times, and his stories have been included in The Best American Short Stories and The Best American Travel Writing. He is both a former White House Fellow and Marine, and served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. He divides his time between New York City and Washington, D.C.