Summary
Amin Maalouf: The Labyrinth of the Lost: The West and its Opponents
A devastating war burns in the heart of Europe, awakening the worst traumas of the past; we are constantly threatened by a nuclear cataclysm while the West, China and Russia measure their strength. We are witnessing a great upheaval that calls into question the very foundations of our civilization. In this book, Amin Malouf returns to the sources of the current conflict between the West and its adversaries. It describes the development of four great nations: Meiji-era Japan, the first Asian country to challenge the supremacy of "white" nations and whose rapid modernization fascinated all of humanity; Soviet Russia, which posed a huge threat to the West before it collapsed; China, which in the 21st century represents the main challenge to the hegemony of the West; and finally, the United States of America, which stood up to each of the three rivals and became the leading planetary superpower during two world wars. All these stories form a historical fresco that sheds new light on ongoing conflicts, the motivations of their participants and the strange paradoxes of our time.
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