Global Lit post 1

Week 1

I first encountered Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations” in a high school political science class. As bleak as it was, I remember writing both in support and rejection of the main ideas he put forth. If I can get a copy of that high school paper, I think it would be interesting to compare my first reaction towards globalization in an academic setting to my understanding of globalization by the end of this class.
I would also today like to provide a link to Eric Hoffer’s “The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movement” at Amazon.com. I read this short book several years ago, and basically it gives an approach to understanding fanaticism and fanatics, i.e., in this case, true believers. As our discussion moves to include an understanding of fundamentalism (possibly on the rise in light of globalizing factors – we’ll examine this more probably), I think it’s fascinating to look at the figure, the identity, of who the radical fundamentalists are and why they do what they do. I recommend Hoffer’s quick read:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060916125/002-6590089-2195256?v=glance&n=283155