A review by surbhibee
Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny by Amartya Sen

3.0

This is my first Amartya Sen book and I wish I had started with the likes of The Argumentative Indian instead; my impression of Sen's writing prowess would've certainly been better had that been the case. Identity and Violence seeks to explore very pertinent issues including religious fundamentalism and globalisation and succeeds in touching upon many historical anecdotes. However, the gist of the book is that violence is fostered by a singular sense of identity that ignores one's other affiliations. this thesis statement is repeated far too often and even parts of a short 200 page book as this begin to feel hackneyed.
this is a good book for speed reading for many ideas on perceptions of Western civilization are cogently presented (I read my copy in 3 hours, admittedly having skimmed through many pages.) A finer editing job would've made it all the more readable.