Book excerpt: ’2034: A Novel of the Next World War’ Elliot Ackerman and James Stavridis March 9 "2034: A Novel of the Next World War" by Elliot Ackerman and James Stavridis (Penguin Random House) From two former military officers and award-winning authors, a chillingly authentic geopolitical thriller that imagines a naval clash between the U.S. and China in the South China Sea in 2034 — and the path from there to a nightmarish global conflagration. On March 12, 2034, US Navy Commodore Sarah Hunt is on the bridge of her flagship, the guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones, ...