Thisbook is the fruit of a number of years of assimilating another culture and learning about the evolution of its institutions, altogether an incr- iblyrich andrewarding experience. Ihopetopassonto the reader some of that richness in the belief that, even in a globalizing context, learning about other nations and cultures is more and more necessary. The reasons andvalues behind this belief are perhaps evident, but I amconvincedthat they bear repeating here. To begin with, the hasty generalizations that often liebehind the cynicism and ultimately the violence of ethnocentrism and xe- phobia...