Blood and Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism
by Michael Ignatieff
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Until the end of the Cold War, the politics of national identity was confined to isolated incidents of ethnics strife and civil war in distant countries. Now, with the collapse of Communist regimes across Europe and the loosening of the Cold War's clamp on East-West relations, a surge of nationalism has swept the world stage. In Blood and Belonging, Ignatieff makes a thorough examination of why blood ties--in places as diverse as Yugoslavia, Kurdistan, Northern Ireland, Quebec, Germany, and show more the former Soviet republics--may be the definitive factor in international relation today. He asks how ethnic pride turned into ethnic cleansing, whether modern citizens can lay the ghosts of a warring past, why--and whether--a people need a state of their own, and why armed struggle might be justified. Blood and Belonging is a profound and searching look at one of the most complex issues of our time. show lessTags
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Case studies in the chaotic resurrection of ethnic nationalism in the post-cold-war world. The Balkans, Quebec, reunified Germany, etc. Another interesting and important facet of the general shape of things that I know little of, and could stand to learn about.
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Author Information

52+ Works 3,311 Members
Michael Ignatieff, born in Toronto in 1947. But at the age of 11, Ignatieff was sent to Toronto to attend Upper Canada College as a boarder in 1959. At UCC, Ignatieff was elected a school prefect as Head of Wedd's House, was the captain of the varsity soccer team, and served as editor-in-chief of the school's yearbook. As well, Ignatieff show more volunteered for the Liberal Party during the 1965 federal election by canvassing the York South riding. He resumed his work for the Liberal Party in 1968, as a national youth organizer and party delegate for the Pierre Elliott Trudeau party leadership campaign. He then went on to continue his education at the University of Toronto and Harvard and Cambridge universities. In 1976, Ignatieff completed his Ph.D in History at Harvard University. He was granted a Cambridge M.A. by incorporation in 1978 on taking up a fellowship at King's College there. Michael Ignatieff has written television programs for the BBC, novels, and works of nonfiction. He has also authored essays and reviews for several publications including The New York Times. From 1990-93, he wrote a weekly column on international affairs for The Observer. His family memoir, The Russian Album, received Canada's Governor General Award in 1988. His second novel, Scar Tissue, was short-listed for the Booker Prize in 1993. Other nonfiction works include A Just Measure of Pain, the Penitentiary in the Industrial Revolution and the Warrior's Honor: Ethic War and the Modern Conscience. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1993 (UK) (UK); 1994 (1st American edition) (1st American edition)
- Disambiguation notice
- Full title (1994 American edition): Blood and belonging : journeys into the new nationalism / Michael Ignatieff
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Politics and Government
- DDC/MDS
- 320.54 — Society, government, & culture Political science Types of Government Political ideologies Nationalism, regionalism, internationalism
- LCC
- JC311 .I42 — Political Science Political theory Political theory. The state. Theories of the state Nationalism. Nation state
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 253
- Popularity
- 128,100
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.66)
- Languages
- 5 — Dutch, English, German, Italian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 17
- ASINs
- 2



























































