Nationalism Books - Page 2

America's Victories: Why the U.S. Wins Wars and Will Win the War on Terror

Larry Schweikart

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror, the American military has consistently beaten the odds. It's not luck.

America's armed services are under attack. From college campuses to the floor of the Senate, the Iraq war is portrayed as a quagmire, the Army is described as "broken," and our men and women in uniform are maligned as torturers. Hollywood keeps producing anti-war films, and the media celebrates liberal anti-military activists such as Cindy Sheehan.

These critics fail to understand the real nature of the American military. By seeing everything through the distorted lens of Vietnam — a war shrouded in harmful myths —they have lost sight of our country's real military record, and the factors that have enabled us to win with remarkable consistency, in situations even more dire than Iraq.

In America's Victories, Professor Larry Schweikart restores the truth about our amazing military heritage. Just as he did in his acclaimed previous book, A Patriot's History of the United States, Professor Schweikart cuts through the distortions passed along by academia and the media.

Why do Americans win wars, and why is it all but certain we will win the War on Terror? The biggest answer is that, far from being a cruel, bloodthirsty nation, eager to acquire other people's resources, we value the sanctity of life more than any military culture in history. This fundamental trait has led, over the last two centuries, to more humane treatment of prisoners, more daring POW rescues, and more effective operations than any comparable power.

The American military has also benefited from a combination of other virtues: the ability to learn from losses and mistakes; the unique autonomy entrusted to our troops; and, ironically, the constant improvements forced by anti-war protestors. When coupled with an unmatched free-market economy, America's fighting forces are fearsome.

America's Victories explains how this culture of victory has endured through the darkest moments of World War II, Korean, and Vietnam, and how it has helped our troops prove their critics wrong over and over, from the Battle of New Orleans under Andrew Jackson to the war in Afghanistan under Tommy Franks. Among the book's many revelations, you'll learn:

* How the military since the time of the Revolution has constituted an incredible "melting pot" of ethnicities and social classes, creating a culture blind to origins, but open to talent and desire.

* How the Higgins Boat (key to the success of D-Day) and the Jeep (the backbone vehicle of World War II) were created by American entrepreneurs, not central planners, and how our economic capacity buried the Axis powers.

* Why Abu Ghraib does NOT contradict our respect for individual human life, including our exceedingly humane treatment of prisoners of war, and how a better example of Americans' view of prisoners is the POW rescue at Canabantuan.

* How anti-war protestors, by emphasizing "body bags," have led our military inexorably toward more efficient operations that minimize casualties.

* How Americans (not the French) put into practice Napoleon's maxim that "every soldier carries a Marshal's baton in his knapsack," and made our front line troops the most autonomous fighters in history.

Professor Schweikart acknowledges America's blemishes and weak moments, but also exposes the deep-seated anti-American bias of the Left. Based on the lessons of history, he concludes that we will win the War on Terror, through a weapon more powerful than any bomb or rocket: our unique military culture.

Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland

Richard English

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Editorial Review:

Richard English's brilliant new book is a compelling narrative history of Irish nationalism, in which events are not merely recounted but analyzed. Full of rich detail, drawn from years of original research and also from the extensive specialist literature on the subject, it offers explanations of why Irish nationalists have believed and acted as they have, why their ideas and strategies have changed over time, and what effect Irish nationalism has had in shaping modern Ireland.

It takes us from the Ulster Plantation to Home Rule, from the Famine of 1847 to the Hunger Strikes of the 1970s, from Parnell to Pearse, from Wolfe Tone to Gerry Adams, from the bitter struggle of the Civil War to the uneasy peace of the early twenty-first century. Is it imaginable that Ireland might - as some have suggested - be about to enter a post-nationalist period? Or will Irish nationalism remain a defining force on the island in future years?

The Green Flag: A history of Irish nationalism

Robert Kee

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

One of the Best Books on Irish Political History-Ever 5 out of 5 stars.
56 of 58 people found this review helpful.

This is a famous and well reputed book. It has been in print now for almost 30 years-deservedly so I might add. I suspect it will still be in print another 30 years from now.
Robert Kee was a journalist and a famous World War 2 P.O.W. escapee. He writes lucidly and with great style, eloquence even. Yet above all his books are a darn good read. This book is vividly written, fleshed out with characters and facts that are dispassionatly but richly detailed.
This book follows the course of Irish nationalism from the distant past of the Tudor wars and Anglo-Scottish Settlements up through the rise of DeVelera.
Its true strength is in parts two and three which recount, in great detail, the growth of Irish nationalist sentiment (and rebellion) and land reform/Catholic emancipation, during the 19th Century. Kee demonstrates clearly the ever so slight, but vital, strand of personal connection that linked Wolfe Tones' United Irishmen to Emmet, Parnell, the Fenians and eventually the I.R.A..
Part three details the rise of the Nationalist cause in the wake of Parnell's fall and the rise of the I.R.B./I.R.A. in the late Victorian era up through the Civil war of the 1920s. This book painted very clearly the horror of the Black and Tan war as well as the subsequently even more nasty Irish civil war.
Up until the 1970s a great many people in Ireland would not even speak to each other because of the bitterness engendered by the latter conflict. It spawned Ireland's two major parties and the emotions, recriminations and even hatred caused by the Collins/DeVelera conflict still has significant effect today. This era also shaped the course of the present day three I.R.A.s (Provisional,"Real" and "Stickie").
This book does not deal with the Present Ulster 'troubles' at all. But you can not understand them, nor modern Ireland without reading this book.
Above all, this book was written in a 'neutral' fashion, by an outsider, who deeply loved his subject. It lacks the usual bombast of many other slanted histories. At the same time none of the drama, emotion, glory nor hatred are lost in the telling.
To illustrate what I mean by the above review: in 1987 I asked a series of Irish politicians of all persuasions what history book would still be in print in 2037 and what volumes would they use if they had to teach Irish history to a class at Harvard. Every politician (except the Rev.Ian Paisley) mentioned this book.

Editorial Review:

Covering Irish history from the beginnings of Irish Nationalism through 1973, Robert Kee's treatment ranges from the Protestant Plantations through Wolfe Tone and the Great Famine to the founding of the Fenian Movement and the Irish Free State. His authoritative and comprehensive history is masterly in its detail and judicious analysis. A classic in its field, this is essential reading for anyone attempting to understand the complex historical forces that have shaped Ireland.

Nationalism

Ernest Gellner

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A defining force in world history, nationalism remains an inescapable feature of a modern condition. It has underpinned the emergence of many states, and the conflict it has often generated has caused enormous suffering, both directly and indirectly. Nationalism remains a powerful influence today; in the former Yugoslavia and the successor states of the Soviet Union it has instigated great violence and attrocity.

In this incisive and provocative book, completed just before his death, Ernest Gellner - described as "one of the last of the great central European polymath intellectuals" by the Financial Times - explores the phenomenon of nationalism, tracing its emergence and roots in the modern industrialized nation state, its links with romanticism and its creation of national myhs. He investigates its various manifestations and reveals how in long established states such as France, it has been relatively benign, while in Eastern Europe in particular - where nationalist feeling preceded the emergence of modern states - its influence has been far more problematic, and at times disastrous. Finally, the book explores the prospects of minimizing the influence of nationalist feeling and cautiously anticipates the possibility of its decline in this decade of continuing atrocities and "ethnic cleansing."

Lucid and direct, Gellner's work combines politics, history, philosophy, and anthropolgy with the multidisciplinary flair for which he was renowned. As nationalism continues to inform contemporary politics, often with vicious and tragic results, Gellner's last words on the subject are essential reading.

Pride: The Seven Deadly Sins

Michael Eric Dyson

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Of the seven deadly sins, pride is the only one with a virtuous side. It is certainly a good thing to have pride in one's country, in one's community, in oneself. But when taken too far, as Michael Eric Dyson shows in Pride, these virtues become deadly sins.
Dyson, named by Ebony magazine as one of the 100 most influential African Americans, here looks at the many dimensions of pride. Ranging from Augustine and Aquinas, MacIntyre and Hauerwas, to Niebuhr and King, Dyson offers a thoughtful, multifaceted look at this "virtuous vice." He probes the philosophical and theological roots of pride in examining its transformation in Western culture. Dyson discusses how black pride keeps blacks from being degraded and excluded by white pride, which can be invisible, unspoken, but nonetheless very powerful. Dyson also offers a moving glimpse into the teachers and books that shaped his personal pride and vocation. Dyson also looks at less savory aspects of national pride. Since 9/11, he notes, we have had to close ranks. But the collective embrace of all things American, to the exclusion of anything else, has taken the place of a much richer, much more enduring, much more profound version of love of country. This unchecked pride asserts the supremacy of America above all others--elevating our national beliefs above any moral court in the world--and attacking critics of American foreign policy as unpatriotic and even traitorous.
Hubris, temerity, arrogance--the unquestioned presumption that one's way of life defines how everyone else should live--pride has many destructive manifestations. In this engaging and energetic volume, Michael Eric Dyson, one of the nation's foremost public intellectuals, illuminates this many-sided human emotion, one that can be an indispensable virtue or a deadly sin.

Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse

Partha Chatterjee

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Excellent discussion of Nationalism's underlying assumptions 5 out of 5 stars.
16 of 20 people found this review helpful.

Chatterjee does and excellent job of clearly explaining the underlying causes and assumptions of nationalism. How they originate in the west and based on specific conceptions of time, reason, progress, and science. Since these conceptions are not universal their application through nationalism may not be best served by being universal. Chatterjee further goes to give a clear outline of how he thinks nationalist discourse in the colonial world was formed. I definetly recommed this one if your interested in the subject.

a decent book once you cut through all the jargon 3 out of 5 stars.
7 of 14 people found this review helpful.

If it isn't obvious from the title of this book that this is going to be full of postmodern jargon, it becomes clear quite quickly that Chaterjee prefers difficult terms like 'problematic', 'thematic' and 'discourse' without always defining them - he even admits his admiration for Rorty, Barthes, Foucault and Derrida.

Nonetheless, underneath all of this verbiage is a strong and convincing argument about the three stages of nationalism in India: the moment of departure (epitomized by Bankimchandra Chatttopadhyay), the moment of manoeuvre (Gandhi) and the moment of arrival (Nehru). Chatterjee clearly shows how nationalism in India was akin to Gramsci's concept of the 'passive revolution' - i.e. merely a drive towards independence, not towards transforming or breaking up colonial instutions. He argues that, instead of supporting nationalism, we should instead challenge the marriage between reason and capital.

From the title of this book one might expect Chatterjee to draw links to other anti-colonial nationalisms but he doesn't; rather he only discusses India (not even other parts of South Asia). While this approach doesn't really make this book too useful for examining anti-colonial nationalisms in general, for someone like me who has never read a book on Indian nationalism this is a good introduction.

Citizenship: A Very Short Introduction: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

Richard Bellamy

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Editorial Review:

Interest in citizenship has never been higher. Politicians of all stripes stress its importance, as do church leaders, captains of industry and every kind of campaigning group--from those supporting global causes, such as tackling world poverty, to others with a largely local focus, such as combating neighborhood crime. In this brilliant, compact introduction, Richard Bellamy offers an eye-opening look at an idea that is as important as it is rare--the prospect of influencing government policy according to reasonably fair rules and on a more or less equal basis with others. Bringing together the most recent scholarship, the book sheds light on how ideas of citizenship have changed through time from ancient Greece to the present, looks at concepts such as membership and belonging, and highlights the relation between citizenship, rights, and democracy. Bellamy also examines the challenges confronting the very possibility of citizenship today, the impact of globalization, the desirability of "global citizenship," the teaching of citizenship in schools, citizenship tests for immigrants, and the many different definitions and types of citizenship in modern society.

The Myth of American Diplomacy: National Identity and U.S. Foreign Policy

Walter L. Hixson

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this major reconceptualization of the history of U.S. foreign policy, Walter Hixson engages with the entire sweep of that history, from its Puritan beginnings to the twenty-first century’s war on terror. He contends that a mythical national identity, which includes the notion of American moral superiority and the duty to protect all of humanity, has had remarkable continuity through the centuries, repeatedly propelling America into war against an endless series of external enemies. As this myth has supported violence, violence in turn has supported the myth.

The Myth of American Diplomacy shows the deep connections between American foreign policy and the domestic culture from which it springs. Hixson investigates the national narratives that help to explain ethnic cleansing of Indians, nineteenth-century imperial thrusts in Mexico and the Philippines, the two World Wars, the Cold War, the Iraq War, and today’s war on terror. He examines the discourses within America that have continuously inspired what he calls our “pathologically violent foreign policy.” The presumption that, as an exceptionally virtuous nation, the United States possesses a special right to exert power only encourages violence, Hixson concludes, and he suggests some fruitful ways to redirect foreign policy toward a more just and peaceful world.

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Nationalism (Concepts in Social Thought Series)

Craig Calhoun

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Solid and well-argued 4 out of 5 stars.
16 of 16 people found this review helpful.

The vast literature on nationalism, at least in the English language, is making the need for books like this one increasingly evident. Calhoun's aim in this text is to provide an explanation of nationalism as a historical phenomenon which is still a very active force in the world today. Perhaps his most important point, and one that tends to set him apart from most theorists on nationalism, is that there can be no general theory of nationalism, or no historical "master variable" which can explain its emergence and development. Calhoun correctly notes that it is too diverse a phenomenon to be explained so simply. He argues that nationalism is a process, a way of thinking and acting among people which results from modernity and also continually develops as a response to modernity. It is constructed within the scope of historical development, and acquires different contexts in different places and at different times. This is, of course, a greatly over-simplified summary of a very well-argued text. The only problem is that the book is often difficult to read, as Calhoun tends to engage in restricted academic jargon (e.g. nationalism is constantly referred to as a "discursive formation"). This should not dissuade readers interested in nationalism from reading this book, however. Also, the conclusion is an excellent, concise summation of Calhoun's main arguments, and can stand on its own as a definition of nationalism.

Editorial Review:

Nationalism is one of the most pressing of global problems. Drawing on examples from around the world, Craig Calhoun considers nationalism's diverse manifestations, its history, and its relationship to imperialism and colonialism. He also challenges attempts to "debunk" nationalism that fail to grasp why it still has such power and centrality in modern life.

Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict - revised edition (International Security Readers)

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Editorial Review:

Most recent wars have been complex and bloody internal conflicts driven to a significant degree by nationalism and ethnic animosity. Since the end of the Cold War, dozens of wars—in Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Somalia, the former Soviet Union, and elsewhere—have killed or displaced millions of people. Understanding and controlling these wars has become one of the most important and frustrating tasks for scholars and political leaders.

This revised and expanded edition of Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict contains essays from some of the world's leading analysts of nationalism, ethnic conflict, and internal war. The essays from the first edition have been updated and supplemented by analyses of recent conflicts and new research on the resolution of ethnic and civil wars.

The first part of the book addresses the roots of nationalistic and ethnic wars, focusing in particular on the former Yugoslavia. The second part assesses options for international action, including the use of force and the deployment of peacekeeping troops. The third part examines political challenges that often complicate attempts to prevent or end internal conflicts, including refugee flows and the special difficulties of resolving civil wars.