Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations

(Paperback)

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'A beautifully written, eminently readable and uniquely important challenge to conventional wisdom' J. D. Vance, author of Hillbilly Elegy Never has our society felt more divided. In Political Tribes, Amy Chua diagnoses the cause of our current political discord: tribalism. In many parts of the world, the group identities that matter most the ones that people will kill and die for are ethnic, religious, sectarian or clan-based. Time and time again our blindness to tribalism has undermined our foreign policy. At home, we have recently witnessed the rise of identity politics, a movement that encourages us to define ourselves against, and thereby exclude, others. The shock results of the US election and the Brexit referendum show that tribalism is a social truth that we ignore at our peril. When people are defined by their differences to each other, extremism becomes the common ground, and the grand ideals of democracy have a hard time competing with a more primal need to belong. If we are to transcend our political tribes, we must rediscover a broader, more nuanced unity that acknowledges the reality of our group differences. Insightful, challenging and provocative, Amy Chuas groundbreaking book could not be more timely.

Reviews

Political Tribes is a beautifully written, eminently readable, and uniquely important challenge to conventional wisdom ... Chua's book is a clarion call, encouraging us to reject the primal pull of identitarianism and return to that most radical of ideas, that Americans share something bigger than race or ethnicity or ideology: common citizenship and purpose -- J. D. Vance, author of 'Hillbilly Elegy'
Political Tribes is a punchy book that advances a single idea with admirable clarity. And also with admirable brevity -- Danny Finkelstein * The Times *
Amy Chua speaks hard truths that no one can ignore. We are, as Chua makes clear, living in denial about the power of tribalism over our domestic and foreign policy - blinded, it seems, by our own optimism and distaste for essentialism. A page turner and revelation, Political Tribes will change the way you think -- Tim Wu, author of 'The Attention Merchants' and 'The Master Switch'
America is now bitterly polarised into rival identities. Amy Chua does a brilliant job of showing how it has happened and why it is a tragedy. In Britain, we need to read Political Tribes as a warning. For Americans, it is too late for that: it will need to be force-fed to them -- Paul Collier, Oxford University
As an explanation of why American politics has become so sectarian and polarised, Chuas analysis feels spot-on. And it is increasingly relevant to our politics as well * Spectator *
Amy Chua confronts the failures of modern liberalism to understand ethnic and group attachments. Anyone who wants to understand the contemporary west, and its foreign policy failures, should read this revealing and important book -- David Goodhart, journalist and think-tanker and author of The British Dream and The Road to Somewhere
True to form, Amy Chua presents a provocative prescription to cure our political ills. She challenges us to cross the chasm between groups - not by denying differences, but by celebrating them -- Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of 'Give and Take' and 'Option B' with Sheryl Sandberg
Another wonderful book by Amy Chua! In Political Tribes, she demonstrates once again that she ranks with the keenest observers of the contemporary landscape, establishing convincingly that 'Humans are tribal', and that this reality holds significant implications for America if we truly are to achieve a more perfect union' -- General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret), former commander of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and former Director of the CIA
Brilliant, timeless and timely. Political Tribes concisely explains the forces that made our experiences in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq so maddeningly difficult to comprehend, and brings that same thoughtful analysis to America today. Amy Chua provokes thought and we need that -- General Stan McChrystal, US Army (Ret)
Amy Chuas insightful, provocative and deeply troubling book is the place to begin our long overdue national discussion on how to repair the deep divisions in the American political landscape. Political Tribes is a wake-up call to the dangers of surrendering national unity to a fractured landscape of feuding and narrow interests -- Tom Brokaw, author of 'The Greatest Generation'

Author Bio

Amy Chua is the John Duff Jr. Professor of Law at Yale Law School. She is the author of World on Fire, Day of Empire, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, and The Triple Package (with Jed Rubenfeld) and is a noted expert in the fields of international business, ethnic conflict, and globalization. She lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with her husband and two daughters.