Everybody can have this white flag. It has spread into other facets of our lives. If a boxer is taking too much of a beating – why do they throw in a white towel? There's a relationshipof surrender."

Worth Dying For: The Power and Politics of Flags - Goodreads

This chapter in particular is filled with so much orientalist writing that really put the book in perspective for me. The first thing he does is make ISIS sound like the biggest evil since the medieval times (hello Nazis and the KKK?) in a highly sensationalised opening paragraph. Both images, but perhaps more so the 9/11 photograph, also evoke the opening stanza of the American national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” particularly its final lines: In nine chapters (covering the USA, UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, international flags, and flags of terror), Tim Marshall’s A Flag Worth Dying For is a “brisk, entertaining read…that successfully answers a puzzling question: how can a simple piece of cloth come to mean so much? Marshall presents an informative survey of these highly visible symbols of national or international pride” ( Publishers Weekly), representing nation states and non-state actors (including ISIS, Hezbollah, and Hamas), and explains how they figure in diplomatic relations and events today.My first impressions of this book were highly positive. Instantly, I imagined giving this book a rating of five stars. What drew me in the beginning was the chapter names; I really liked the way that the book was structured. The first few chapters were stimulating, concise, and highly educational; I certainly learned a great deal. Then, I reached the chapter on Arabian flags, and I spotted a few sloppy errors by the author that brought my initial impression down to four stars. And including Turkey and Iran in a chapter called 'Colours of Arabia'? At least change it to 'Colours of the Middle East'. The sloppy factual errors, while irritating and slightly orientalist, could still be forgiven. After all, the book was still highly engaging and informative. There were some genuinely interesting parts to the book, but there was also a great deal of unnecessary wish wash with generous helpings of under-researched bias.

Worth Dying For By Tim Marshall | Used | 9781783962815 Worth Dying For By Tim Marshall | Used | 9781783962815

The Monocle Weekly: Stuart Semple, Tim Marshall and Anna Smith" ('...Tim Marshall discusses the history of flags...') Accessed 15 April 2017

It's going to survive for centuries as that symbol. Also, in western cultures, because of the Bible and the white dove being the symbol of peace."