I agree entirely with Joel's views posted in item 2 (below? above?): the book's theme--with the _many_ detailed aspects in which it is examined by Maalouf's careful analysis-- _is_ indeed, as Joel writes, "one of the most important issues of our time".

I'd argue, going further, that unless one reads Maalouf's essays or some other's version of them, though I know of no other writer who does quite the same thing as Maalouf in his book ---and I just finished his newest on the topic, "Le dérèglement du monde" (which very loosely translates as "The world gone mad")---one cannot clearly comprehend the true character of much of the social and political trends of our times. His views place so _much_ about our times into a clarifying context which, all the same, does not oversimplify but, instead, enriches an understanding of numerous elements by showing their common relationships to a larger "whole".

When you have read the book, and, if you are fortunate, his latest one as well, you'll understand far more and far better the many otherwise bewildering things going on around the world today. There's a simple and not-so-obvious reason for that: a great deal of today's momentous social and political issues are inextricably bound up with the complicated matter of how people, as individuals and as communities, nations and states, see and define themselves---that is to say, what they view as their "identity".

A brilliant book which deserves wide and long consideration and discussion. Societies everywhere shall continue to suffer greatly and needlessly until they better grasp the insights which Maalouf offers us here. ( )

A slowly, surely built essay on one of the most important issues of our time: the way identity has given rise to the kinds of violence that lead to war and division. This prescient pre-September 11th book deserves a wide audience. ( )

http://www.livredepoche.com/Livre_De_... ( )