Machine generated contents note: I.Earning The Rockies -- II.A Continental Empire -- III.Notes On A Vertical Landscape -- IV.Notes On A Horizontal Landscape -- V.Cathay.

"In 'Earning the Rockies', Robert D. Kaplan undertakes a cross-country journey, traversing a rich and varied landscape that still remains the primary source of American power. Traveling west, in the same direction as the pioneers, Kaplan witnesses both prosperity and decline, and reexamines the history of westward expansion in a new light: as a story not just of genocide and individualism but also of communalism and a respect for the limits of a water starved terrain. Concluding at the edge of the Pacific ocean with a gripping description of an anarchic world, 'Earning the Rockies' shows how America's foreign policy response ought to be rooted in it's own geographical situation." -- Back cover