CULTURE

Who is Ian Buruma?

Ian Buruma, 57, was born in the Netherlands to a Dutch father and English mother. He studied Chinese literature in Leiden and then Japanese film in Tokyo. In the 1980s, he worked as a journalist and spent much of his time traveling around and reporting from Asia. Over the past few years, Buruma has lived in New York, where he is Henry R. Luce Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College. He is a regular contributor to a number of major publications, including The New York Times, The Financial Times and the Guardian. His most recent book, «Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance» (2006), an interesting take on the failure of the multiculturalism project and the dramatic transition of Dutch society, won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Best Current Interest Book. Other titles include «God’s Dust: A Modern Asian Journey» (1989), «The Wages of Guilt: Memories of War in Germany and in Japan» (1994) and «Inventing Japan: From Empire to Economic Miracle 1853-1964» (2003).

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