Fire and ashes

success and failure in politics

205 pages

English language

Published Dec. 28, 2013

ISBN:
978-0-674-72599-7
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OCLC Number:
840460701

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(2 reviews)

In 2005 Michael Ignatieff left his life as a writer and professor at Harvard University to enter the combative world of politics back home in Canada. By 2008, he was leader of the country's Liberal Party and poised--should the governing Conservatives falter--to become Canada's next Prime Minister. It never happened. Today, after a bruising electoral defeat, Ignatieff is back where he started, writing and teaching what he learned. What did he take away from this crash course in political success and failure? Did a life of thinking about politics prepare him for the real thing? How did he handle it when his own history as a longtime expatriate became a major political issue? Are cynics right to despair about democratic politics? Are idealists right to hope? Ignatieff blends reflection and analysis to portray today's democratic politics as ruthless, unpredictable, unforgiving, and hyper-adversarial. Rough as it is, Ignatieff argues, democratic politics …

4 editions

Review of 'Fire and ashes' on 'Goodreads'

Un politólogo y opinador de fama mundial es fichado para que vuelva a su país y arregle el tradicional partido del sistema, la Pesoe local, en plan paracaidista de buena familia. Sale mal, para alegría del lector un poco harto de tanta referencia. Ignatieff se venga castigándonos con una larga serie de sermones sobre la política moderna y lo injusta que ha sido con él, como si fuese una interminable columna de The Atlantic o de Foreign Policy.
Como ya voy teniendo una edad y el autor tiene un apellido muy sonoro, puedo acordarme de sus columnas apoyando cualquier invasión y genocidio que le saliera al paso, y lamento que esas palabras tan cargadas de sangre no hayan tenido consecuencias reales.

Subjects

  • Politics and government
  • Politicians
  • Political culture
  • Biography
  • Liberal Party of Canada

Places

  • Canada