On Becoming Nuyoricans (Counterpoints Series: Postmodern Theory of Education), Vol. 194 Book

Wolff makes the rather obvious point that so-called "ethnic conflicts" are not merely about ethnicity, but are also about the ways in which ethnicity affects the distribution of political, economic and social opportunities in a given society. He pads this observation into a 200+ page book by expounding on a *lot* of banal theses, e.g. "The success of multi-ethnic states is thus predicated on their ability to prevent the emergence of state-seeking nationalisms among their constituent groups" (p. 55). (Translation: ethnic conflict is less likely to break out when people feel more loyalty to the government than to their own particular ethnic group -- an argument so utterly unremarkable that it must be true).

I don't want to sound unduly harsh on this book. For students new to the subject, "Ethnic Conflict" provides a simple and well-written overview of the conventional wisdom on the topic. Wolff supports his arguments with a wide range of historical examples (mostly drawn from the 20th century), some of which may be fascinating to new students of the subject. For those readers already familiar with the subject, I would recommend at least skimming pp. 68-85, which provide a useful and concise review of the major structural and proximate causes of ethnic warfare. (Call it the Cliff Notes version of all those long-winded journal articles you had to read). The rest of the book can probably be safely ignored by advanced students and scholars.

I give it 3 stars because it is well-written and mostly accurate, if not particularly revelatory. And any book that attempts to puncture the tired cliche of ethnic conflicts being caused by nothing more than "age-old hatreds" always has some inherent value.