Amartya Sen’s Identity and Violence is a sharp argument against the idea that human beings can be reduced to one master category: religion, nation, civilisation, culture, ethnicity, whatever blunt instrument happens to be fashionable at the time.

Written against the post-9/11 “clash of civilizations” mood, Sen argues that violence is often made possible by shrinking people into singular identities, then treating those identities as destiny. 

It is a clean, accessible piece of political philosophy from the Nobel Prize-winning economist and thinker, this is useful reading for anyone interested in nationalism, multiculturalism, religious conflict, liberalism or postcolonial politics. Calm, yet furious, basically. The quiet academic version of taking the filing cabinet outside and setting it on fire.

Penguin paperback edition, 2007. Light general shelf wear and minor handling to cover/page edges, but clean and solid overall.