Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations 

By Amy Chua
304 pages
First edition Feb. 20, 2018

This is the second of two Amy Chua books recommended to me by SL. The first, The Triple Package, which I reviewed here, was about why some immigrants to the US do much better than others in terms of income, education, and even health. As I mentioned in that review, I was interested in her argument because it overlaps with my thesis in a book I’m writing (working title Wealth Culture), which is about the cultural characteristics of immigrant groups that always seem to rise to the highest rungs of wealth and education wherever they go.

I like Political Tribes for a different reason: It presents a very convincing explanation for how the US managed to get itself in so many post-war proxy fights around the world, starting with Vietnam and then with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Venezuela.

Chua’s thesis is that the US’s foreign policy has always been focused on political and/or economic ideas such as dictatorships vs. democracies and Communism vs. Capitalism. Those sorts of notions are fodder for academics and politicians, she points out, but they are not the primary forces in how the rest of the world acts and reacts to economic, political, and social changes. Only by understanding the importance that culture plays in other countries can the US develop a foreign policy that works – both for the countries we get involved in and for ourselves.

Critical Reception 

* “Chua sprints through her international material in a little over 100 pages before returning to the United States – which is where she gets stuck in a quagmire of her own making. What started out… as a shrewd assessment of our fractured political situation turns into a muddled argument about what Americans, mainly liberals, need to do next.” (New York Times)

* “Chua is no stranger to controversy, and her latest book is sure to provoke.” (Foreign Affairs)

* “A punchy book that advances a single idea with admirable clarity.” (The Times)