Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny.

In this sweeping philosophical work, Amartya Sen proposes that the murderous violence that has riven our society is driven as much by confusion as by inescapable hatred. Challenging the reductionist division of people by race, religion, and class, Sen presents an inspiring vision of a world that can be made to move toward peace as firmly as it has spiraled in recent years toward brutality and war. “One of the few world intellectuals on whom we may rely to make sense out of our existential confusion" (Nadine Gordimer).