Description
“Since leaving Lebanon to settle in France, how many times have people asked me, with good intentions, whether I feel ‘French’ or ‘Lebanese’? And I always answered: ‘Both!’ Not out of a desire for balance or fairness, but because I would be lying if I said otherwise. What defines me, and not someone else, is that I stand at the crossroads of two countries, two or three languages, and a set of cultural traditions. This is precisely what defines my identity…”
Amin Maalouf, starting from a seemingly ordinary question he has often been asked, explores identity, the passions it stirs, and its deadly pitfalls. Why does it seem so difficult for a person to embrace all their affiliations with complete freedom? Why must self-affirmation, at the end of this century, so often be accompanied by the exclusion of others? Are our societies forever prone to tension and escalating violence simply because the people who live in them do not share the same religion, the same skin color, or the same original culture? Is it a law of nature or a law of history that condemns humanity to conflict in the name of identity?
The author decided to write *Deadly Identities* because he rejects this predetermined fate. This book is brimming with wisdom, insight, anxiety, and hope.
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