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Rating: 
Summary: A lucid analysis of the things that most ail us
Review: At the moment there are many books being published examining the successes and failures of the humanitarian interventions that have followed the end of the Cold War - more failures than successes, truth be told. As part of my job, I read as many of them as I can. It is this book, however, that I constantly return to. My copy is dog-eared, and deeply scored with underlinings. In every paragraph, Ignatieff has something worthwhile - and frequently confronting - to say. He addresses the role of the media and the triangle of relationships between audience/media/political leaders; he looks at the rise in humanitarian organisations and the peculiarities of the ethics under which they work; he brings insights from the field on the way the UN is so often programmed to fail. The power of Ignatieff's writing stems from his unique capacity to bring together the perspectives of news correspondent, novelist and philosopher. He is direct and extremely readable, while also knifing into the subtle heart of the "New World Order." In the chapter entitled "The Narcissism of Minor Difference" he comes as close anything I have read to explaining why ordinary people are moved sometimes to conduct atrocities on their neighbours. It is vivid and convincing. If you feel exasperated by the hideous mysteries of ethnic and sectarian conflict, I urge you to read this book, if for that chapter alone.
Rating:
Summary: Honor in Ethnic War
Review: I read this book through a class I took and I was impressed by the deep analysis on the issues of ethnic war including a focus of television and media, charitable empathy, the need for conflict, and a warrior's honor. Ignatieff differentiates ethnic wars happening now (civil wars, ethnic wars, brother vs. brother) than that of wars the US has waged in the past (vs. country/nation). These new types of war show a new dynamic of intervention and war atrocities relating to it. The common thread Ignatieff points out is relating to a warrior's honor. Much like chivalry, a soldier in battle should follow certain rules of conduct like not committing atrocities against the indigenous population or letting interventionists take care of the wounded. Ignatieff also focuses on many ethnic conflicts of today in Rwanda, Somalia, and Serbia as examples of the dimension of ethnic war. Ignatieff uses loaded terminology and might be too much to comprehend, but his examples help the reader understand the context he is pushing for. Further examples from Freud's "Narcissism of Minor Diffence" and James Joyce gives this book a well-rounded academic feel. This book gives great insight to human need during ethnic war especially with the current conflict in Kosovo.
Rating:
Summary: Have a pencil close by!
Review: The streets in downtown Montreal were filled with people - hundreds of them, shouting, waving banners and wearing the ubiquitous "target" emblem on their shirts. They had gathered to demonstrate against the NATO intervention in Kosovo, which had been launched by the Western alliance to end the ongoing cleansing of ethnic Albanians in the region. That particular day had a strange feel to it, not unlike the first day the US-led Coalition began bombing downtown Baghdad in 1991. In a way it felt as if war had somehow found its way, through a crack in space, maybe, into the otherwise peaceful metropolis. On that day, on the recommendation of a friend (thanks Robert), I purchased Ignatieff's The Warrior's Honor. However, I did not read it until very recently, as it had gotten lost (or drowned, rather) among the tons of other "must read" books (their reproductive rate is admittedly very high) that inhabit my bookshelves. Now that I have read it, however, I understand why it so often gets quoted by other authors; despite its relatively short length, it is literally one of the very best books on the issue of ethnic-based conflict. Ignatieff's writing is extremely quotable, and on numerous occasions I found myself highlighting passages which so aptly drove to the heart of what other authors require whole chapters to evoke. Rich in sources - both literary and philosophical - it is, unquestionably, a master's exercise in conciseness and analysis. The chapters "The Narcissism of Minor Difference" and "The Seductiveness of Moral Disgust" are especially enlightening, and I know I will be revisiting them frequently. This book, along with Jonathan Glover's Humanity, should be read by anyone who hopes to cast a ray of light, however feeble, into the shadowy realms of man's inhumanity to man.
Rating:
Summary: Have a pencil close by!
Review: The streets in downtown Montreal were filled with people - hundreds of them, shouting, waving banners and wearing the ubiquitous "target" emblem on their shirts. They had gathered to demonstrate against the NATO intervention in Kosovo, which had been launched by the Western alliance to end the ongoing cleansing of ethnic Albanians in the region. That particular day had a strange feel to it, not unlike the first day the US-led Coalition began bombing downtown Baghdad in 1991. In a way it felt as if war had somehow found its way, through a crack in space, maybe, into the otherwise peaceful metropolis. On that day, on the recommendation of a friend (thanks Robert), I purchased Ignatieff's The Warrior's Honor. However, I did not read it until very recently, as it had gotten lost (or drowned, rather) among the tons of other "must read" books (their reproductive rate is admittedly very high) that inhabit my bookshelves. Now that I have read it, however, I understand why it so often gets quoted by other authors; despite its relatively short length, it is literally one of the very best books on the issue of ethnic-based conflict. Ignatieff's writing is extremely quotable, and on numerous occasions I found myself highlighting passages which so aptly drove to the heart of what other authors require whole chapters to evoke. Rich in sources - both literary and philosophical - it is, unquestionably, a master's exercise in conciseness and analysis. The chapters "The Narcissism of Minor Difference" and "The Seductiveness of Moral Disgust" are especially enlightening, and I know I will be revisiting them frequently. This book, along with Jonathan Glover's Humanity, should be read by anyone who hopes to cast a ray of light, however feeble, into the shadowy realms of man's inhumanity to man.
Rating: 
Summary: When Warriors Lose It
Review: This is an eloquent book, veering to poetry at times. For a book about the modern wars of militias and warlords within failed states, its eloquence actually gets in the way of the message at times. Occasionally one can even see that sometimes Ignatieff says something just because he has thought of an eloquent way of saying it. Not that I am accusing him of insincerity, for he is not. Nor that the book is without an honest message, for it has several. The book is a sort of meditation on the nature of these "modern wars" that is colored much by his own personal experiences in several of them. The observation that is central to the book is that diverse people (who are really much alike too) can fall into a state of viewing the "other" as the enemy when a state begins to fail to protect them, and anarchy looms. In successful modern states, the protection is present, and the fiction that diverse people are underneath it all, the same, is maintained. The book has a very intelligent treatment of the dilemma of the various aid agencies such as the Red Cross and the UN Peacekeepers in trying to ameliorate the effects of war, and maintain their credibility, while not prolonging it or even intensifying it. On the other hand, the author is a little too reverent of Freudian and even Marxist ideas on the nature of man, both of whom have about zero credibility to the discerning reader. His account of the "Narcissism of Minor Differences" is just so much hooey to me. Ignatieff seems to be entirely uninformed of modern thinking on this problem, which goes by the name of evolutionary psychology, and to me, seems so much more insightful and informative. The general problem of war is not treated here, only a particular form of it. The wars that inform his thinking in this book are those in Angola, Lebanon, Ireland and, especially, Yugoslavia, with a few "lessons" from the holocaust thrown in. There is not much in the way of systematic study, but rather a grab bag of ideas and anecdotal observations. Eloquently written, though...
Rating:
Summary: When Warriors Lose It
Review: This is an eloquent book, veering to poetry at times. For a book about the modern wars of militias and warlords within failed states, its eloquence actually gets in the way of the message at times. Occasionally one can even see that sometimes Ignatieff says something just because he has thought of an eloquent way of saying it. Not that I am accusing him of insincerity, for he is not. Nor that the book is without an honest message, for it has several. The book is a sort of meditation on the nature of these "modern wars" that is colored much by his own personal experiences in several of them. The observation that is central to the book is that diverse people (who are really much alike too) can fall into a state of viewing the "other" as the enemy when a state begins to fail to protect them, and anarchy looms. In successful modern states, the protection is present, and the fiction that diverse people are underneath it all, the same, is maintained. The book has a very intelligent treatment of the dilemma of the various aid agencies such as the Red Cross and the UN Peacekeepers in trying to ameliorate the effects of war, and maintain their credibility, while not prolonging it or even intensifying it. On the other hand, the author is a little too reverent of Freudian and even Marxist ideas on the nature of man, both of whom have about zero credibility to the discerning reader. His account of the "Narcissism of Minor Differences" is just so much hooey to me. Ignatieff seems to be entirely uninformed of modern thinking on this problem, which goes by the name of evolutionary psychology, and to me, seems so much more insightful and informative. The general problem of war is not treated here, only a particular form of it. The wars that inform his thinking in this book are those in Angola, Lebanon, Ireland and, especially, Yugoslavia, with a few "lessons" from the holocaust thrown in. There is not much in the way of systematic study, but rather a grab bag of ideas and anecdotal observations. Eloquently written, though...
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