2034: A Novel of the Next World War, by Admiral James Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman – A Book Review by Scipio

Warning: could contain spoilers.

At first the book is slow and tedious reading until Chapter Three page 85. Its major weakness is that is written almost exclusively from a naval perspective and brings no other branches as participants in this future war.

It’s easy to imagine that this so-called war novel is nothing more than a dressed-up study from the Naval War College. Given the distance in the future that this Third World War was supposed to take place you would think there would be some extremely advanced technological military weapons. There were none. As a matter fact rail guns had not been perfected at this time.

It’s hard to conceive a world war where the United States Air Force would not be involved, especially strategically. Yet there is no mention of the US Air force–not even as afterthought.

The conflict takes place in the South China Sea.  It is a confrontation between the United States Seventh Fleet and the People’s Liberation Army naval fleet. You would think with North Korea’s proximity to the so-called battlefield they would somehow be involved? Yet there is no mention of North Korea involved whatsoever, which would be extremely unlikely. Japan apparently had disappeared likewise.

Russia makes a cameo appearance in the book throwing a monkey wrench into China’s grand plan. It seems the author felt compelled to throw in a little Russophobia even though they were half a world away from the battlefield. Russia is part of the novel because it takes advantage of the USA bogged down in Asia to annex Gdansk and the northern part of Poland making it a part of the Russian Federation. Once again, no imagination here as the Russians have been accused of this being part of their grand plan in the media for years.

Iran, however, is used in a clever and pivotal part of the story. The Iranians also are portrayed as clever strategist but who in the end bungle their attempts on the world stage and are bailed out only by sheer luck.

What’s most disturbing about this book is that it has “wokeism” from the start to the end. It has anti-American statements and snarky comments about Hiroshima and WW II internment of the Japanese, and similar types of self-condemnation sprinkled throughout the book. It’s hard to believe this was written by an American admiral. But then again think of current Joint Chief General Willy Milly and it’s probably an accurate appraisal of flag grade officers thinking these days.

The author makes several important points, however. One is a future military clash with China or Russia seems more and more plausible. He lays out a compelling case that in such a conflict aftermath the USA would find itself third technologically behind the Indians as number one and China number two in new world order.

The world in the book “2034” apparently thinks NATO exists only as a think tank with no kinetic abilities at all, unable to even raise a protest against Russia’s aggression in Poland.

If this was one of the Admiral Stavridis’ classes at the Naval War College, he dressed up as a novel, and at least brings it to life with believable protagonists who have lives and conflicts beyond their high government responsibilities. Stavridis especially highlights the pull between country loyalty and their cultural heritage and families. The book is fairly predictable until the last third when India suddenly became the deciding factor in the book’s conclusion.

What I think the book did best was to point out the current hubris in America today that they cannot see themselves as a declining power and thus not aware of how close they are from being knocked off their perch. One of the main characters, Deputy National Security Adviser Sandeep Chowdhury, states it thusly, “The America, we believe ourselves to be is no longer the America we are.”  and later “… they (USA) struggled to find a solution to a problem they didn’t understand.”

Another insight woven throughout the book is to demonstrate however meticulous military ventures are planned, miscalculations by one or more parties may cause it to spiral out of control.

It’s an easy read. I read it over a three-day period.