The influx of millions of refugees is the result of a brutal nuclear war between China and Russia that destroyed both countries and devastated the world economy, a scenario that occurs early in MacWha’s book, Eastern Horizons, leading to the fallout globally — literally and otherwise.
While the economic crisis and political opportunism flows from a war that has fundamentally changed society, one can read the book and see parallels to the impact of, and reactions to, the current COVID-19 pandemic that has also changed society as we know it.
This despite the fact MacWha was writing Eastern Horizons long before the novel coronavirus upended our way of life. That is was published in the midst of the pandemic, in August 2020, only adds to its relevance to today’s global situation.