The late speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, is credited for coining the phrase, All politics is local. Indeed, the human propensity for segregating into groups based on shared cultural, religious, or ethnic commonalities takes this notion to its logical conclusion. An awareness of this most basic tenet of human nature would have benefited American foreign policy during such conflicts as the wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan, but because officials tend to think in terms of big picture ideologies (e.g., communism versus capitalism), the key to resolving such crises was lost. In each case, a core understanding of tribal identities could have meant the difference between victory and defeat. An expert in the fields of ethnic conflict and globalization, Chua (Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, 2011) examines how a different perspective might have led to greater success and applies these same polarizing attitudes to current domestic political discourse. Presented with keen clarity and brimming with definitive insights, Chua's analysis of identity politics is essential reading for understanding policy challenges both at home and abroad.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2017 Booklist

Chua (law, Yale Law Sch.; Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother) educates listeners about human tribalism and the countless ways tribalism causes problems in the modern world. To most Americans, the idea of humans belonging to tribes seems reserved for ancient humankind or people from staunchly divided developing countries. This fundamental misunderstanding permeates to the highest elected officials and is a large contributor to U.S. foreign policy failures in countries such as Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Americans do not belong to tribes as obvious as the Sunnis or Shias, but they belong to several tribes, even on a sub-conscious level, that span race, socioeconomic status, religion, and political philosophy. Chua illustrates how various tribes have created the intensely divisive political culture seen in current U.S. society. This work challenges Americans and calls them to action, regardless of which tribes they belong to, to set aside differences and reunite as a single tribe devoted to America's values of freedom, liberty, and equality. Narrator Julia Whelan delivers Chua's deeply analytical text with a crisp tone that makes for easy listening. VERDICT A must-listen for those interested in sociology, political science, and history. ["Chua's inquiry is a potentially useful one in an era of violent, reactionary white nationalism": LJ 2/1/18 review of the Penguin Pr. hc.]-Sean Kennedy, Univ. of Akron Lib. © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A Yale Law School professor with expertise in ethnic conflict and globalization, Chua (The Triple Package) devotes her thoughtful, if overreaching, survey to the role of tribalism in politics and society in and outside the U.S. She concentrates in the book's first half on how U.S. foreign policy, to its considerable detriment, has ignored the role of "political tribes," especially those involving a socioeconomically powerful "market-dominant minority," such as ethnic Chinese throughout Southeast Asia. Chua spends the second half looking at tribal politics in the U.S., especially "white-against-white" animosity, and touches on such little-known phenomena as the conspiracy-minded Sovereign Citizen movement, as well as the far more mainstream NASCAR culture. However, there is too little here on the vital role of religion in the formation and functioning of American political tribes. In an epilogue, Chua decries the tribalist tendency to polarize the world into "a virtuous us and a demonized them" but offers little to help Americans move beyond such views besides an appeal for more outreach and dialogue. Although the book ends weakly and too soon for the ground it attempts to cover, this is still a thought-provoking, illuminating study on a hugely important political and cultural issue. Agent: Tina Bennett, WME. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.