Sacred causes : the clash of religion and politics, from the Great War to the War on Terror
From one of the leading historians of our time comes a brilliant and incisive work of history that examines the politics of religion and the religion of politics, from the catastrophe of the First World War to the modern-day War on Terror. Beginning with the chaotic post-World War I landscape, in which religious belief was one way of reordering a world knocked off its axis, Sacred Causes is a penetrating critique of how religion has often been camouflaged by politics. Covering a vast canvas, Michael Burleigh examines the many secular religions the twentieth century produced, analyzing how successive totalitarian leaders coveted and mimicked the hierarchy, rites and ritual of the churches in the desire to return to the day when ruler and deity were one
Print Book, English, 2007
First U.S. edition
HarperCollins, New York, 2007