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2034 by Elliot Ackerman & James Stavridis
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2034

A Novel of the Next World War
Due to publisher restrictions, this audiobook is unavailable for purchase in your selected country.
Length 10 hours 49 minutes
Language English
Narrators Emily Woo Zeller, P.J. Ochlan, Vikas Adam, Dion Graham & Feodor Chin

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Brought to you by Penguin.

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 โ€“ and the path from there to a nightmarish global conflagration

On 12 March 2034, US Navy Commodore Sarah Hunt is conducting routine freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea. On that same day, US Marine aviator Major Chris โ€˜Wedgeโ€™ Mitchell is flying an F-35E Lightning, 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 Huntโ€™s destroyer will lie at the bottom of the ocean. A new, terrifying era is at hand.

So begins a disturbingly plausible novel, co-authored by an award-winning novelist and decorated Marine veteran and the former commander of NATO, a legendary admiral.

Everything in 2034 is an imagination extrapolation from present-day facts on the ground, informed by the authorsโ€™ 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: this cautionary tale presents a dark yet possible future that we must do all we can to avoid.

โ€˜I could not stop reading 2034โ€™ Phil Klay, author of Redeployment

โ€˜A rippingly good readโ€™
Wired

ยฉ2024 Elliot Ackerman & James Stavridis (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Elliot Ackerman (Author)
ELLIOT ACKERMAN is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Halcyon, 2034, Red Dress In Black and White, Waiting for Eden, Dark at the Crossing, and Green on Blue, as well as the memoir The Fifth Act: Americaโ€™s End in Afghanistan, and Places and Names: On War, Revolution and Returning. His books have been nominated for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal in both fiction and nonfiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize among others. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and Marine veteran who 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.

James Stavridis (Author)
Admiral Jim Stavridis, USN (Ret.), spent more than thirty years in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of four-star admiral. He was Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and previously commanded U.S. Southern Command, over-seeing military operations throughout 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 fifty medals in the course of his military career, including twenty-eight from foreign nations. He is the author of ten other books, including Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the Worldโ€™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 the vice chair, global affairs, and managing director of the Carlyle Group and the chair of the board of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Elliot Ackerman (Author)
ELLIOT ACKERMAN is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Halcyon, 2034, Red Dress In Black and White, Waiting for Eden, Dark at the Crossing, and Green on Blue, as well as the memoir The Fifth Act: Americaโ€™s End in Afghanistan, and Places and Names: On War, Revolution and Returning. His books have been nominated for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal in both fiction and nonfiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize among others. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and Marine veteran who 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.

James Stavridis (Author)
Admiral Jim Stavridis, USN (Ret.), spent more than thirty years in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of four-star admiral. He was Supreme Allied Commander at NATO and previously commanded U.S. Southern Command, over-seeing military operations throughout 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 fifty medals in the course of his military career, including twenty-eight from foreign nations. He is the author of ten other books, including Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the Worldโ€™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 the vice chair, global affairs, and managing director of the Carlyle Group and the chair of the board of the Rockefeller Foundation.

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Reviews

There is conflict and catastrophe on a large scale, and it unfolds, as major conflicts tend to, with surprising twists and turns . . . This is not a pessimistic book about Americaโ€™s potential, but the picture of the world it paints before the central conflict will be a difficult one for many to accept, albeit one well supported by facts An unnerving and fascinating tale of a future . . . The book serves as a cautionary tale to our leaders and national security officials, while also speaking to a modern truth about arrogance and our lack of strategic foresight . . . The novel is an enjoyable and swiftly paced but important read 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, while only vaguely understanding how the information stored in and shared by those devices can be exploited. If youโ€™re looking for a compelling beach read this summer, I recommend the novel 2034 Consider this another vaccine against disaster. Fortunately, this dose won't cause a temporary feverโ€”and it happens to be a rippingly good read. Turns out that even cautionary tales can be exciting, when the future weโ€™re most excited about is the one where they never come true A frightening look at how a major-power showdown might race out of control. . . . This compelling thriller should be required reading for our national leaders and translated into Mandarin Those seeking a realistic look at how a future world war might play out will be rewarded Chilling yet compulsively readable work of speculative fiction . . . Ackerman and Stavridis have created a brilliantly executed geopolitical tale that is impossible to put down and that serves as a dire, all-too-plausible warning that recent events could have catastrophic consequences War with China is the most dangerous scenario facing us and the world. Absent a strategic method to manage our differences, Jim Stavridis and Elliot Ackermanโ€™s chilling novel presents a realistic series of miscalculations leading to the worst consequences. A sobering, cautionary tale for our time A brilliant thriller! Masterfully plotted and elegantly written, 2034 is a literary tour-de-force. Letโ€™s just hope none of it comes true A real page-turner, 2034 is a novel about a conflict we hope never happens. Drawing on their deep operational and diplomatic backgrounds, Admiral Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman have conjured a nightmare we desperately need to avoid. The novel is a cautionary tale for our times, and a reminder how quickly events can spin out of controlโ€”even before 2034 I could not stop reading 2034. With sharply drawn, vibrant characters caught in an all too plausible future conflict, the novel left me fascinated, moved, thrilled and, ultimately, haunted 2034 is an exciting, interesting, and informative novel about a hypothetical future war with China that is largely determined by actual decisions already made...Anyone who is concerned about where todayโ€™s military technology decisions are taking us should read this book Utterly engrossing . . . [2034] is incredibly well-written, deeply thought-provoking, and it makes for uncomfortable and sober readingโ€”in the best of ways...Elliot Ackerman is one of the finest writers to come out of this generation of military veterans and officers This kind of fiction can induce a kind of sublime awe at the complexity of the global networks in which weโ€™re enmeshed . . . 2034 and 2054 are near-future tales, extrapolating from the present to a carefully imagined next five minutes, designed to elicit a little spark of recognition, the feeling of being shown a possible path from โ€œhereโ€ to a utopian or dystopian โ€œthereโ€ Expand reviews
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