Customer Reviews

The Wrath of Nations: Civilizations and the Furies of Nationalism

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It is hard to believe that such a well written, fascinating look at most of world history of the past thousand years via the lens of this barely two century-old force called nationalism is out of print. Pfaff rips loose the real meaning of words like "culture", "race", "solidarity", "community", and even "politics" from the intellectual, emotional, and quasi-religious force that is nationalism- a political system redefining all of the above through the small lens of populations, collective hyper-logical interests mythologized, and geography. I didn't realize that countries as we have come to know them and their peoples were not essentially like they are now a thousand years ago- which makes me look at everything in the political and cultural arena differently. What has been the effect of this force called nationalism on the human mind and the human soul? How can it be bad if it helped destroy Nazism; how can it be good if it turns neighbors and families with ancient bloodlines into bloodthirsty enemies, like in Kosovo, or our own Civil War? WRATH OF NATIONS attempts to answer these questions, and many others I didn't think to ask.

Pfaff's treatise on nationalism is as much psychological as it is historical and political. And on those grounds it is well worth reading.

Amazingly, the author wrote a book about nationalism and is constantly assessing ideologies in relation to nationalism (e.g., to him, religious fundamentalism is LIKE nationalism, but is not IDENTICAL TO nationalism)...but he never provides a clear definition OF nationalism!! I read chapter 1 over and over in search of a definition and couldn't find one. There must be a problem when the pivotal variable isn't clearly defined. It's a miracle you got as far as you did with this fuzzy work, Mr. Pfaff.