Darshana M. Baruah and Oriana Skylar Mastro launch their new books, The Contest for the Indian Ocean and Upstart: How China became a Great Power. The Contest for the Indian Ocean, Baruah explores how the Indian Ocean has become a central stage for geopolitical competition, highlighting its strategic importance and the ambitions of global powers vying for influence in the region. Meanwhile, in Upstart, Mastro offers a compelling analysis of China's unconventional path to great power status, revealing the strategies that enabled its rise without triggering a major global backlash.