<TitleType>01</TitleType> <TitleText>In the Name of Identity</TitleText> <Subtitle>Violence and the Need to Belong</Subtitle>

Arcade Publishing 20100903 eng

GCDS-9781559705936 03 01 Arcade Publishing 01 GCOI 55970100606040 02 1559705930 03 9781559705936 15 9781559705936 BB <TitleType>01</TitleType> <TitleText>In the Name of Identity</TitleText> <Subtitle>Violence and the Need to Belong</Subtitle> 1 A01 Amin Maalouf Amin Maalouf has written seven novels, including The Gardens of Light,Leo Africanus,The Rock of Tanios,which won the Goncourt Prize in 1993, and Balthasar's Odyssey,published by Arcade in 2002. He has also written several works of nonfiction, including In the Name of Identity,which Arcade published in 2001. 01 eng 192 01 Identity--what makes each of us unique--has been a fundamental question of philosophers from Socrates to Freud. Identity is the crucible out of which we come: our background, our race, our gender, our tribal affiliations, our religion (or lack thereof), all go into making up who we are. All too often, however, the notion of identity--personal, religious, ethnic, or national--has given rise to heated passions and even massive crimes."I want to try and understand why so many people commit crimes in the name of identity," writes Amin Maalouf. Moving across the world's history, faiths, and politics, he argues against an oversimplified and hostile concept of identity. Cogently and persuasively, he examines identity in the context of the modern world, where it can be viewed as both glory and poison. He demonstrates, too, the dangers of using identity as a protective--and therefore aggressive--mechanism, which frequently leads to the repression or extermination of minorities, heretics, or class enemies.Maalouf contends that many of us would reject our inherited conceptions of identity, to which we cling through habit, if only we examined them more closely. The future of society depends on accepting all identities, while recognizing our uniqueness. 02 A thoughtful inquiry into our concept of identity and its impact on society. The author considers how we define ourselves, how identity is understood in the world's different cultures, and how recognizing identity is key to survival in the new millennium. 08 [A] compelling, provocative and persuasive study of the dangers of personal, religious, ethnic and national identities. With intelligence, wit and moral fortitude, Maalouf accessibly and eloquently addresses such complicated issues as how we judge religious traditions that have embraced violence and brutality; modern manifestations of "otherness" . . . Maalouf does not naively demand that personal identities be dismissed, but suggests a number of ways in which identities can remain intact and might form not a "meaningless sham equality" but "rather the acceptance of a multiplicity of allegiances as all equally legitimate." Utopian realism at its finest . . . This is an important addition to contemporary literature on diversity, nationalism, race and international politics. Publishers Weekly 08 The latest attempt to explain the propensity of civilized nations to repeatedly engage in the massacre of their neighbors, a practice alternately known as genocide, race riots, ethnic cleansing and, simply, mass murder. Distinguished Lebanese novelist Amin Maalouf focuses on the universal human need for a sense of identity. A convincing thesis from a wise and civilized voice. Kirkus Reviews 08 Amin Maalouf begins his humane and eloquent essay with the question of "why so many people commit crimes nowadays in the name of religious, ethnic, national or some other kind of identity." Maalouf . . . is a rare voice of sanity in this murderous discord. Ian Buruma The New York Review of Books 08 [Maalouf's] informal style, in excellent translation from the French, brings immediacy and commitment to a subject that the academics make impenetrable with jargon and the politicians make wild with rhetoric. Fascinating discussion sure to spark debate. Hazel Rochman Booklist 08 A prescient little book that for its voice alone is worth a library of the more sophisticated expositions about the clash of civilizations. Talk 08 [A] Lucidly written, heartfelt, and, as it turns out, excruciatingly timely book. . . . Perhaps the CIA should spend some of its resources listening to novelists. Sam Coale Providence Journal 08 In the Name of Identity,smoothly translated from the French by Barbara Bray, was written in Paris before the world changed, but it makes compelling reading in America today. . . . [Maalouf] is a thoughtful, humane and passionate interlocutor. Jonathan Lear The New York Times Book Review 08 An eloquent introductory exploration of why, in this age of globalization, we need to abandon our historical idea of identity as a single religious or national alliance. The New Yorker 08 This gentle book will help ordinary readers find their way through these thickets. Library Journal 08 The title promised some sort of post-Sept. 11 insight. It delivered, in spades. In the Name of Identityis a controversial book, which reads like a long letter from a well-informed friend, to explore why people kill each other in the name of religious, ethnic or racial identity. Mary Ann Gwinn Times/Post Intelligencer 08 [Maalouf's] impassioned reflection . . . is a sustained meditation on how historically violent conflicts between peoples have as their core impulse the reduction of identity . . . Dennis Patrick Slattery Parabola 08 Maalouf's whole essay is an intriguing plead for more balanced attitudes to patchwork identities. Ludger Jansen, Ph.D. Metapsychology 04 02 72 01 http://www.arcadepub.com/resources/titles/55970100606040/images/55970100606040L.gif 07 02 72 01 http://www.arcadepub.com/resources/titles/55970100606040/images/55970100606040S.gif http://www.arcadepub.com/book/?GCOI=55970100606040 01 Arcade Publishing http://www.arcadepub.com US 04 20010901 Arcade Publishing 01 IP 01 22.95 USD