Jonathan Blake has produced a superb analysis of why the Protestant parading tradition continues to fascinate, excite, attract and repel in Northern Ireland. Drawing upon wide-ranging interviews with participants and observers and extensively researched throughout, Contentious Rituals offers a clear account of the importance of collective identity which underpins parades. The book is essential reading for scholarly understanding of the persistence of ritualistic
divisions.
Jonathan S. Blake is an associate political scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California.