Robert D. Kaplan

LEXINGTON, Va., Aug. 31, 2016 – Robert D. Kaplan, a bestselling author of 16 books on foreign affairs and travel, will speak on the current geopolitical climate at Virginia Military Institute’s 2016-17 academic convocation, to be held Wednesday, Sept. 7, in Cameron Hall.

The ceremony, which is open to the public free of charge, will begin at 11:15 a.m.

Kaplan is a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a contributing editor at The Atlantic, where his work has appeared for three decades. He has served as chief geopolitical analyst at Stratfor, a visiting professor at the United States Naval Academy, and a member of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board. Foreign Policy magazine twice named him one of the world’s “Top 100 Global Thinkers.”

In addition, Kaplan’s essays have appeared on the editorial pages of publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Financial Times. Kaplan has been a consultant to the U.S. Army’s Special Forces, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Marines. He has also lectured at a wide variety of armed services venues, including military war colleges, the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Among Kaplan’s works are In Europe’s Shadow, Asia’s Cauldron, The Revenge of Geography, Monsoon, The Coming Anarchy, and Balkan Ghosts.

A native of New York City and a graduate of the University of Connecticut, Kaplan spent 16 years living and working abroad. He now lives in the Berkshires in western Massachusetts.

-VMI-