Is Blood Thicker Than Water?: Crises of Nationalism in the Modern World [Paperback]

James M. McPherson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 1999

From Pulitzer Prize-winner James M. McPherson comes a brilliant and passionate examination of nationalism in today's world, and its effects on the stability of the world's countries, big and small.

Since the end of the Cold War, nationalism has re-emerged as one of the most powerful forces in the modern world. Students of nationalism have analyzed two principal categories of this phenomenon. Ethnic nationalism is more familiar and easier to define; it broke up Yugoslavia into four mutually hostile ethnic nations. It split Czechoslovakia into two nations. It threatens to do the same to Canada. In contrast, civic nationalism defines national identity not by presumed descent from an ancient bloodline with its own language, culture and genetic purity but by citizenship in a national state and loyalty to its political institutions.

James M. McPherson focuses on the American Civil War and Quebec's bid for separation from Canada as case studies in the contest between these two strains of nationalism, and offers both implicit and explicit comparisons to modern counterparts.

Is Blood Thicker Than Water? will finally give us the perspective to look at this phenomenon clearly and objectively.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"This is the story of a geographically large country in North America with a federal form of government," begins James M. McPherson, and after several pages describing how two separate regions clash with each other in an unstable union, the reason for the vagueness becomes clear: he could be talking about either the United States before the Civil War or Canada today, with its French-speaking minority in Québec fitting uncomfortably into a larger fold. "There are striking parallels in the experiences of these two North American nations," writes acclaimed Civil War historian McPherson (Battle Cry of Freedom) as he tries to apply his specific knowledge of that conflict to Canada's modern predicament.

The Civil War, he elaborates, pitted the South's sense of its own ethnic nationalism against the North's more universalist idea of civic nationalism; McPherson sees these same forces at work in modern Canada: "Many southern whites believed as strongly in their ethnic difference from Yankees as the Québecois believe in their ethnic differences from English Canadians." And while he does not believe Canada is in immediate danger of plunging into war, he warns that "deep seated tensions remain." Is Blood Thicker Than Water? is a slim but learned volume that will interest readers who believe the past has much to teach the present. --John J. Miller

From the Inside Flap

From Pulitzer Prize-winner James M. McPherson comes a brilliant and passionate examination of nationalism in today's world, and its effects on the stability of the world's countries, big and small.

Since the end of the Cold War, nationalism has re-emerged as one of the most powerful forces in the modern world. Students of nationalism have analyzed two principal categories of this phenomenon. Ethnic nationalism is more familiar and easier to define; it broke up Yugoslavia into four mutually hostile ethnic nations. It split Czechoslovakia into two nations. It threatens to do the same to Canada. In contrast, civic nationalism defines national identity not by presumed descent from an ancient bloodline with its own language, culture and genetic purity but by citizenship in a national state and loyalty to its political institutions.

James M. McPherson focuses on the American Civil War and Quebec's bid for separation from Canada as case studies in the contest between these two strains of nationalism, and offers both implicit and explicit comparisons to modern counterparts.

Is Blood Thicker Than Water? will finally give us the perspective to look at this phenomenon clearly and objectively.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books Ed edition (April 27, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375704280
• ISBN-13: 978-0375704284
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,718,161 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James M. McPherson is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor of History Emeritus at Princeton University. He has published numerous volumes on the Civil War, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Battle Cry of Freedom, Crossroads of Freedom (which was a New York Times bestseller), Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution, and For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War, which won the Lincoln Prize.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Concise, yet illuminating, May 2, 2000

By 

Edward Bosnar - See all my reviews

This review is from: Is Blood Thicker Than Water?: Crises of Nationalism in the Modern World (Paperback)

Perhaps my only criticism of this book would be that it is too short. Even though McPherson is a historian who specializes in the Civil War period of American history, this short essay is a very useful contribution to the study of nationalism. The main reason is that it focuses on nationalism where most of today's intellectual elite says it doesn't exist: in the United States and Canada. Although written as something of a "warning" for Canadians, i.e. that they may be facing the same problems today with Quebec that the U.S. did in the 19th century with the South, McPherson refrains from stating that the problems of Southern nationalism in the U.S. have been resolved. Also important is his analysis of civic and ethnic nationalism, meaning nationalism based on loyalty and pride in common legal, state and civil institutions as opposed to nationalism based on common language, culture and "blood ties." While McPherson sees the former as a more positive phenomenon, he correctly points out that even it can often engender the same type of fanaticism and inspire people to act violently, just like the latter. Finally, perhaps most fascinating aspect of the book is its exploration of early expressions of American nationalism, e.g. in the speeches and writings of Thaddeus Stephens among others, which could be the basis of a longer and more comprehensive study.