Winner of the Lionel Gelber Prize and the Gordon Montador Award for Best Canadian Book on Social Issues

Until the end of the Cold War, the politics of national identity were confined to isolated incidents of ethnic strife and civil war in distant countries.

With the collapse of Communist regimes across Europe and the loosening of the Cold War's clamp on East–West relations, a surge of nationalism swept the world stage. In Blood and Belonging, Ignatieff makes a thorough examination of why blood ties—in places as diverse as Yugoslavia, Kurdistan, Northern Ireland, Quebec, Germany, and the former Soviet republics—may be the definitive factor in international relations today. He asks how ethnic pride turned into ethnic cleansing, whether modern citizens can lay to rest the ghosts of a warring past, why—and whether—a people need a state of their own. Blood and Belonging is a profound and searching look at one of the most complex issues of our time.

"Ignatieff's probing analysis of the meanings and consequences of 'the new nationalism' provides crucial insights into the fragility of 'civic nationalism' and the 'liberal virtues [of] tolerance, compromise, reason.'" —Booklist

Michael Ignatieff is a Canadian writer and historian. His books include Scar Tissue (which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize), The Russian Album, Blood And Belonging, The Warrior's Honour, The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror, and The Rights Revolution. His work has been translated into many languages and awarded numerous prizes and awards. Before being elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament in 2006, he was Professor of Human Rights and Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. Until May 2011 Ignatieff was leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. He lives in Toronto, where he teaches at the University of Toronto.

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