The Clash of Civilizations: Summary and book reviews of The Clash of Civilizations by Samuel Huntington, plus links to an excerpt from The Clash of Civilizations and a biography of Samuel Huntington.

Based on the author's seminal article in Foreign Affairs, Samuel P. Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order is a provocative and prescient analysis of the state of world politics after the fall of communism. In this incisive work, the renowned political scientist explains how "civilizations" have replaced nations and ideologies as the driving force in global politics today and offers a brilliant analysis of the current climate and future possibilities of our world's volatile political culture.

Media Reviews

The New York Review of Books - William H. McNeill I agree with Huntington when he argues that the commitments to particular patterns of civilization and particular religious identities are rapidly gaining importance in international affairs. But I disagree with the conclusions he draws; for it seems to me that increasing connections among civilizations simultaneously sustain a contrary trend toward global cosmopolitanism. This trend, in my view, offers by far the best hope for the future, and is therefore very much worth fostering, as the universalist strand in American foreign policy, perhaps naively, tends to do.   The New York Times Book Review - Michael Ignatieff The Huntington argument that the West should stop intervening in civilizational conflicts it doesn't understand makes a powerful claim that internationalists cannot easily ignore. The question is whether there remain certain human interests that all civilizations had better endorse for our common survival. Genocide is genocide, famine is famine, and a world where civilizations no longer intervene to save strangers from these universal threats is one that not even Samuel P. Huntington would feel safe in.   The New York Times - Richard Bernstein A benchmark for informed speculation on those always fascinating questions Just where are we in history? What hidden hand is controlling our destiny?...A searching reflection on our global state.   The Washington Post Book World - Michael Elliott The book is studded with insights, flashes of rare brilliance, great learning, and in particular, an ability to see the familiar in a new and provocative way.   New Statesman (UK) - Fred Halliday Of all the broad-sweep books on the post-cold war world Huntington's is without doubt the worst and the most pernicious. It is the worst because it is careless with facts, ignorant of history and indifferent to the whole range of social theory that has, with due care, looked at such issues as culture, socialisation and tradition. . . . For a book that claims to be about different civilisations, it is striking that all the references are to books in English.Huntington is pernicious because he fuels myths about cultural conflict, and reinforces those who seek to consolidate relativist, community-based authority.   Library Journal This book attracted attention because of its thesis that the clashes of civilizations are the greatest threat to world peace. However, Huntington's work is important here for his second chapter on the nature and study of civilizations (with its excellent bibliographic sources), and his last chapter on the future of the West and other core civilizations.   The Wall Street Journal - Francis Fukyama The book is dazzling in its scope and grasp of the intricacies of contemporary global politics. Henry A. Kissinger Sam Huntington, one of the West's most eminent political scentists, presents a challenging framework for understanding the realitites of global politics in the next century. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order is one of the most important books to have emerged since the end of the Cold War.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by misha
The guy is a disgrace to mankind. It seems to me that he has already made up his mind about the faith of the middle east without properly researching the facts. Any conscious human being with half a brain would know better, (especially a harvard...   Read More

Rated of 5 by haha
harvard professor? well, he seems to be a patriotic <<edited>> (uhh..this word is forbidden) ...he has no idea of international knowledge. sorry, but i hope nobody will listen to what he's saying.
thanks.

Rated of 5 by larry b.
That book is unique in scope, readability. and integrity. It's highly informative and explanatory.
It's written from the point of view of an American, who is fully aware that he presents the western view on world peace,
and world's...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Tyler_D
The worst book ever!! I've never read such an historical ignorant text! Not only ignorant, it is completely wrong and just not true what he is saying! And to try and divide the world into 8 cultural groups is a schoolboy error!!

Rated of 5 by umesh shahane
excellent book,
events on sept 11 have proved that clash is not going to stop.

Rated of 5 by CH

Attention has to be drawn to the fact that Huntington in his view argues that Islamic and Christian cultures are contradictory and incompatible and he therefore recommends a form of political apartheit. This is directly comparable with the view...   Read More

...2 More Reader Reviews

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