Amazon.com
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, many Americans yearned to understand why Muslim extremists felt such passionate animosity toward the Western world, particularly the United States. Since that historic attack there have been many books and discussions about this very question, but few of them offer such a readable and relevant response as this excellent offering by renowned historian Bernard Lewis (What Went Wrong?). For modern Westerners, Islam is an especially foreign religion and culture to understand. For instance, Westerners typically dismiss things as unimportant when using the expression "that's history." But for those raised in Muslim households, history—even ancient history—is just as important (if not more important) as the present. And to better understand the hostilities rooted in this history—one could start with recognizing the long-standing resentment the Islamic community harbors from having its homelands torn apart and re-packaged into random political states by occupying Europeans (Westerners). Or stretch back in time to the brutality of the Crusades. Or go straight to the U.S. political meddling in the region throughout the latter 20th century. This is not a pity fest for Muslims. Lewis even-handedly explores the sources of Islamic antagonism toward the West while also explaining how a supposedly peace-worshipping religion could be so distorted by violent extremism. He notes that the American way of life—especially that of fulfillment through material gain and sexual freedom—is a direct threat to Islamic values (which is why night clubs—places where men and women publicly touch one another—are targets of bombings). But it is basic Western democracy that especially threatens Islamic extremists, notes Lewis, because within its own community more and more Muslims are coming to value the freedom that political democracy allows. For anyone wanting an intelligent and accessible primer on the Islamic-Western conflict, this is an excellent place to begin. Gail Hudson
Book Description
In his first book since
What Went Wrong? Bernard Lewis examines the historical roots of the resentments that dominate the Islamic world today and that are increasingly being expressed in acts of terrorism. He looks at the theological origins of political Islam and takes us through the rise of militant Islam in Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, examining the impact of radical Wahhabi proselytizing, and Saudi oil money, on the rest of the Islamic world.
The Crisis of Islam ranges widely through thirteen centuries of history, but in particular it charts the key events of the twentieth century leading up to the violent confrontations of today: the creation of the state of Israel, the Cold War, the Iranian Revolution, the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, the Gulf War, and the September 11th attacks on the United States.
While hostility toward the West has a long and varied history in the lands of Islam, its current concentration on America is new. So too is the cult of the suicide bomber. Brilliantly disentangling the crosscurrents of Middle Eastern history from the rhetoric of its manipulators, Bernard Lewis helps us understand the reasons for the increasingly dogmatic rejection of modernity by many in the Muslim world in favor of a return to a sacred past. Based on his George Polk Award–winning article for The New Yorker,
The Crisis of Islam is essential reading for anyone who wants to know what Usama bin Ladin represents and why his murderous message resonates so widely in the Islamic world.
Customer Reviews:
Crisis of Islam? What Crisis? .......2007-09-28
Sophmoric reasoning, innuendo, and misleading "facts" characterize "The Crisis of Islam" by Bernard Lewis, the US's best known scholar of the Middle East.
The first 60-70 pages of this brief book are a relatively dispassionate examination of why the Muslims are different from Christians. There are insights here worthy of attention -- although hardly original or brilliantly insightful. But the last 100 pages take on the character of a gradually building diatribe against the Islamic countries.
To give just one example of Lewis's misleading the reader, he characterizes the statistics about economic progress and quality of life in the Islamic countries as "devastating" (page 114). He reels off several pages of statistics to prove his point. Let's take just one set of figures and apply a degree of objectivity to it. The most widely accepted comparison among countries of quality of life is the "human development index" of the UN. Lewis portrays it as a "dismal picture" that Muslim countries do not rank higher. Brunei ranks 32, Kuwait 36, Bahrain 40, Libya 66, etc. But how bad are those rankings? Well, better than India, China, and Brazil -- which are often cited as the coming super-powers. And better than Russia, and better than more than 100 other countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. (The Human Development Index rates 177 countries in its latest version. The US ranks 8.)
Lewis insinuates that all the Middle Eastern Muslim countries rank near the bottom in terms of industry, education, life expectancy, and other quality of life indicators. That's plain wrong. A careful and objective scholar would have evaluated the statistics with more fairness. The Middle Eastern ountries as a group might be better described as "middling" or even "above average" in quality of life compared to the hundreds of millions of destitute poor in economic "powerhouses" like India and China or in truly poor countries in Africa.
Not that the Middle Eastern countries don't have problems. An unbiased scholar would note that they lag behind the West and several Asian countries in social and economic development. He might have a defensible case if he called their progress in the last 50 years "disappointing" compared to, say, South Korea. But for Lewis to throw all -- or even a majority of -- Middle Eastern countries into a pot of despair, poverty, backwardness, and evil is silly, wrong, and misleading. He's describing the half-empty glass, without giving the other side, the half-full glass. Fifty years ago Dubai was a flyspeck. Today, it's vying with Malaysia, another Muslim country, to construct the world's tallest building and buying chunks of the NASDAQ and the LSE.
Scholars of the Middle East like to talk about the Arab "street." If such a "street" exists, Lewis hasn't found it. Unfortunately, he has been influential over the decades in building up a body of biased scholarship.
Smallchief
Great Book.......2007-05-18
Does a great job explaining the Middle East SNAFU, unlike any News Media channel!
Bernard Lewis is a Right-Wing Neo-Con sellout, but he knows a lot:.......2007-05-07
Whether you lean on the right or left side of the paradigm is your own personal business, but I have to say after reading this book. I can now say without a doubt that I have a better grasp of the issues that engulf the Middle East. Bernard Lewis is a historian with impeccable credentials. In the book Lewis takes you through Middle Eastern history and explains the politics that metastasized from it. You won't believe that a 169-page book could pack so much information.
I'm not going to give away too much info, but I have to remind you to be circumspect when reading this book his opinions are in favor of the Zionist.
In chapter 3 of the book Lewis writes about the capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders in 1099 AD. To get the other side of the story I recommend "Arab Historians of the Crusades" translated by Francesco Gabrieli.
Moreover, chapter 3 then takes you through the second Turkish siege of Vienna, in 1683, which was a defeat for the Ottoman Turks, and by 1914 Germany allied themselves with the Muslim element in the British, French and Russian empires, which paid off in 1933 when the Mufti of Jerusalem allied himself with the Nazis.
In chapter 4 Lewis writes about the early encounters between the Muslim world and America. He ends chapter 4 in 2002. Only a scholar like Lewis could meticulously cram so much info in such a little book.
This was a great book, but don't believe everything in it. For example, Al'Qaeda doesn't really exist, and Osama bin Laden is really working for the CIA. Lewis will never divulge that information because of what side of the fence he dwells on. So if you want the complete story I recommend "The Terror Conspiracy" by Jim Marrs.
Even still, Bernard Lewis like Noam Chomsky is required reading.
The threat from Muslim extemists in a nutshell.......2007-05-06
If you don't have time to read hefty books about Islam then this 164 page book is perfect. Only an expert like Bernard Lewis would know how to boil such a complicated subject down to the essentials.
Understanding Islam.......2007-04-03
I am enrolled in an Air Force program that required reading three books off of the Chief of Staff Reading List. I chose this book to try and help me understand the Middle East and it has. It has raised more questions for me than answers, which is a mark of a good book to me. I spend time thinking about it after I've read a chapter and I can't say all books stick with me like that. It is an easy read and helps someone not familiary with the Middle East to understand the way they think and where their animosity towards the West comes from. Very interesting and thought provoking read, I would suggest it.
Book Description
No one has ever accused Richard Marcinko -- aka Rogue Warrior® -- of being an altar boy, but in the latest installment of his bestselling series, Demo Dick finds himself darkening the aisles of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, tracking a group of terrorists who want to turn the world's largest Catholic church into the world's biggest Roman candle.
A trip to Italy for Dick Marcinko turns into more than pasta and gondola rides. Nothing and no one is sacred as Marcinko sprays irreverent asides, targeting everything from antiterror wannabes to the nuns who taught him in parochial school. Called "the real deal" by Vince Flynn, the bestselling author of Memorial Day, Marcinko entertains, informs, and even finds time to genuflect in his new book.
Visiting a NATO conference in Rome, Demo Dick blisters bureaucratic ears with a speech about Europe's vulnerabilities and the need to get serious about terrorism. He caps off his talk with an impromptu demonstration of the threat, unmasking a plot to kill the conferees seconds before it begins -- and just in time to play volleyball with a live hand grenade. The action ratchets up from there as the former SEAL commander is shanghaied to Sicily to help investigate the attempted theft of nukes from a U.S. base. Is the Mafia involved? Or is this the work of Saladin, a shadowy extremist trying to step into bin Laden's shoes? A high body count lends credence to both theories, but before Demo Dick can untangle the plot, his firm is hired to track down "shrinkage" in a courier operation in Asia. Since said shrinkage involves data and currency worth hundreds of millions of dollars, Demo Dick anticipates a Rogue-sized finder's fee. But he soon discovers the job is a trap. Lured to a cave filled with outrageously hungry tigers in the Thailand jungle, Demo Dick sucks cat breath before being saved by the beautiful if prickly Trace Dahlgren and veteran Rogue sideman Al "Doc" Tremblay. Marcinko has only escaped the frying pan for the fire; he rides a hijacked jet back to Italy, where Saladin plans to wrap up the plot's loose ends in a bonfire at the center of the Eternal City.
In Holy Terror, Marcinko mixes his trademark wit and wisdom with nonstop action in a romp across Europe and Asia.
Customer Reviews:
Demo Dick needs a new co-author.......2007-05-30
This, and all Marcinko's earlier works, are pure mind candy... but that's why we love it! However, this book (and the previous one with the same co-author) lack the pop and detail of his books with Weisman. We do not get as clear a view into Marcinko's mind (re: tactics, insights, opinions, etc... the stuff that really MADE the previous works), the action sequences are drawn out, and the insights into SpecOps are almost non-existent.
I still like "Demo Dick", but wish the Sharkman would partner-up afresh!
Wow that was fast.......2007-04-12
I ordered two books on the same day and received and completed this book before the other one arrived!
Not your typical Rouge Warrior book........2007-03-16
If you like his first books, you may not like this book. His last two books were a little of a let down. I am an avid fan and still bought it.
holy terror book.......2007-01-24
His wrighting style has changed! My husband has had a hard time getting into it!
Just not like the old days.......2006-11-04
I too am one of the readers here that have consumed all of Marcinko's books to date, including the business manuals. The latest installment in the series just isn't as good as the books that got me interested in his books in the first place. None of the "dweeb editor" interjections are present, none of the POV descriptions of the action are to be found. I remember one of his early books having an outstanding description of tachypsychia (tunnel vision, in layman's terms) and the physical effects of surviving a fight. That style and panache are long gone between this tome and his previous one. The only real saving grace is that this book is miles more professionally written than Vengeance was. That book was almost as bad as those hack Mack Bolan novels. This one is a step, and probably two steps, above Vengeance, but it doesn't come close to equalling the first several novels. I have to agree with the sentiment that this series is doomed unless they move A LOT more towards the style that worked when Weisman was co-authoring them.
Customer Reviews:
Stone monstrosities both comic and demonic.......2005-01-29
Almost every tourist who has ever climbed to the top of the North Tower of Notre-Dame de Paris has taken a photo of his or her companion leaning over the balustrade between two gargoyles (technically 'chimeras'), and surveying the streets below. It's the ultimate gargoyle photo-op. I'm surprised this author was able to photograph the gargoyles without a tourist leaning between them. I was only slightly disappointed to learn from this book that much of the stonework on this tower is nineteenth-century restoration by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, "started in 1845 to repair damage done to the cathedral during the Revolution." However, he did attempt to use molds of the originals.
Basically gargoyles are waterspouts, but to me they are proof that medieval stonemasons had a lively sense of humor--which they might have inherited from the Etruscans or the Egyptians, who also used animal-shaped stone waterspouts. Strictly speaking, gargoyles that do not spout water are known as 'grotesques' or 'chimeras.'
It surprised me to learn that gargoyles used to be brightly colored--oranges, reds, and greens were favored--and sometimes gilded. The author believes that "gargoyles may be survivals of pagan beliefs...incorporated into church decorations for superstitious reasons." I've read many a horror story based on this assumption, most notably "The Cambridge Beast" and "The Sheelagh-na-gig" by Mary Ann Allen.
Encounters between gargoyles and people are unique to the Cathedral of Saint John in Den Bosch, the Netherlands: "As a monstrous creature leaps out from the top of the buttress, the people cringe in terror, each one leaning back in an attempt to escape the attack of their horrible assailant." Americans tend to make pets of gargoyles, but that was not their original purpose. After all, midair is the reputed realm of demons (Ephesians 2:2).
Some of the gargoyles pictured in this book are laughing at us. A carved gargoyle-monk of the Old Cathedral of Saint-Etienne in Toul, France appears to be emptying the contents of a barrel onto his unsuspecting colleagues below. "Some [gargoyles] are so appealing that it is hard to imagine they were intended to be regarded as anything other than good creatures. Indeed, the gargoyles of Notre-Dame in Paris are even said to keep watch for drowning victims in the Seine."
This book is an enchanting collection of photographs, legends, and travelogue. If you ever intend to go gargoyle-hunting in Europe, make certain a copy of "Holy Terrors" is stored in your carry-on.
gothic terror.......2002-03-30
...I got the two books Holy Terror's and American Gargolyes... it was a great deal. The book is loaded with pictures of gargoyles from across america and desrcibes what type of gargoyle and where it is located in america. The photographs are beautiful and descriptive through out the book. If you gargoyles get the two books for the price of one. Highly Recommended!!!!
gothic terror.......2002-03-30
This book is one of the best books I got from [amazon.com]. I got the two books Holy Terror's and American Gargolyes... it was a great deal. The book is loaded with pictures of gargoyles from across america and desrcibes what type of gargoyle and where it is located in america. The photographs are beautiful and descriptive through out the book. If you gargoyles get the two books for the price of one. Highly Recommended!!!!
Arguably the best all-around book on gargoyles to date.......2000-09-05
It's got everything... the history, the pictures, the lore, the awe-inspiring Notre Dame Cathedral! An excellent comprehensive work by Janetta Benton. If you only ever buy one book on the subject, this is the one.
Family Appeal.......2000-02-10
"Holy Terrors" is that rarest of books, one that is of genuine value to adults curious about art and architecture, but also very much capable of holding the interest of children. My five-year-old son loves the pictures--especially the "Hairy human with animal head" that adorns the cathedral in Burgos, Spain. We also both appreciate the excellent selection of medieval illustrations, such as Schongauer's "Temptation of Saint Anthony." Skimming through "Holy Terrors" is a fun way to introduce kids to one of the cultural treasures of Europe.
Average customer rating:
- A top pick for any college-level collection
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Terror in the Holy Land: Inside the Anguish of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Contemporary Psychology)
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Israel | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books
General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Social Psychology & Interactions | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Terrorism | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Violence in Society | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0275990419 |
Book Description
Israelis and Palestinians have been caught in what seems a "forever war" with routine terror in the promised land for more than 100 years. This book is the first to bring together commentary and anguished personal insights from people on both sides of the battle. Readers get a personal look at--and a clearer, more nuanced understanding of--the psychological trauma that is common for men, women and children there. Psychologists in the regions, as well as scholars from across disciplines, tell their personal stories, interwoven with academic reflections on important issues fueling the conflict such as humiliation, revenge, hate, and the need for a homeland and identity. Readers are brought face-to-face with controversial issues, like the psychological impact of Israel's Separation Wall, and unique perspectives, including the stories of eight Palestinian female martyrs, the insights of a young student helping to save blasted bodies after the bombing of a bus, the compassion of a Jewish doctor treating suicide bombers, the thinking of a Jidhadist woman raised to hate Jews but now working for peace with Israelis, and a doctor bringing together Palestinians and Israelis using meditation to find peace.
Customer Reviews:
A top pick for any college-level collection.......2007-05-08
TERROR IN THE HOLY LAND: INSIDE THE ANGUISH OF THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT offers up new analysis and psychological understanding of the ongoing and lasting traumas to the peoples on both sides, and is the first to blend analysis from both a social and psychological viewpoint in the process of describing conflicts and national identity crises. These essays cover everything from terrorism's impact to occupation's lasting conflicts, and provide a unique, multi-faceted survey of complex issues which goes far beyond the usual political focus. A top pick for any college-level collection strong in Middle East politics and psychology.
Book Description
Vacation can be murder...
A peaceful vacation on the charming Scottish island of Iona sounds idyllic to sometime sleuth Dorothy Martin. But Dorothy soon finds that while Iona is charming, her vacation won't be peaceful. Thrown in with a bickering American church tour, she tries to keep her distance. But she can't stay away from murder.
Everybody believes the unpleasant American's fatal fall from a cliff is accidental. Everybody, that is, except Dorothy. The only witness, she saw a small clue the police dismiss, one that makes her believe the death was not an accident. With the police closing the case, Dorothy feels bound to investigate. But it's a choice she may regret...
Customer Reviews:
Christian Bashing.......2004-03-20
Be sure and read this book if you get a perverse pleasure out of Christians being put in the worst possible light. There is an interesting mystery here but it is put in the context of a person who continually makes derogatory comments about Christians by selecting nasty characters who are purported to be Christians. It these were nasty African Americans or Gay/Lesbians this would be totally unacceptable but Christians can be bashed with no reservations.
The author clearly has an anti-Christian agenda that she chooses to push in this manner.
It would have been an interesting mystery without being heightened in any way by bashing Christians.
Brush off your tartans, and roll your RRRs ...........2000-11-29
Dorothy Martin, an American widow with arthritic knees and a penchant for hats, travels with the reader into this cozy mystery set on a dramatic island off the coast of Scotland. Bright flowers, glorious hiking, historic landmarks, mislaid keys, heavenly meals, a canny cat, travel to the dark and mysterious island of Staffa, even a cure for seasickness, factor into a fun and clever whodunit. When one of the members of an acrimonious church group is lost and presumed drowned in Fingal's cave, Dorothy senses more than knows that it is murder. Back at the beautiful island, she puzzles out the numerous motives, as a major storm blows an ill wind across the island. Better batten down the hatches, this one is exciting.
A charming English cozy.......2000-06-20
This is the third in Jeanne M. Dams' delightful English cozy series featuring Dorothy Martin, a retired American schoolteacher living in Sherebury, England. In this adventure, our heroine, en route to a vacation on the Scottish island of Iona, finds herself on a bus with an ill-assorted, bickering American church tour group headed for the same idyllic destination. Dorothy's holiday turns out to be anything but peaceful: An obnoxious American is killed in a fall from a cliff in Fingal's Cave, and Dorothy suspects murder. As if that weren't enough, the island is hit by an extremely violent storm. This is a wonderful series, with a charming sleuth and many likable characters. I recommend beginning with the first novel, "The Body in the Transept," and reading the books in order, so you can become acquainted with Dorothy and her friends.
Dorothy.......2000-03-29
This is not a review...I had written a review but do not see it listed with the others do you only take so many for each book or is there certain criteria that I am not meeting....I thought it was a good review. Lawscotch@aol.com (Margie R.)
Dorothy goes on vacation?.......2000-03-28
And what a vacation she has...In this 3rd book, Jeanne Dams takes us to the Isle of Iona in the Scottish Hebrides....a beautiful place, pleaceful, historical, spiritual, and at the stame time... stormy, wild, unyielding and meloncholy. Dorothy sees an accident..BUT, is it an accident? She jumps right in to convince others that it wasn't but no one seems to believe her....she is surrounded by a group of Americans who don't like each other...don't worry, Dorothy to the rescue! Another good story from Jeanne Dams whose descriptions of the island made me feel as if I were there the whole time and had a vacation myself....Margie
Book Description
Catering the annual pre-Easter brunch and egg hunt is a hare-raising hassle for Judith McManigle, hard-working hostess of the Hillside Manor.And this year's egg scramble gets particularly messy when the reclusive wife of a local scion is fatally perforated my a fiend dressed in a bunny suit. Never one to pass up a good murder, Judith solicits the help of her sometime-beau policeman Joe and her irrepressible Cousin Renie to get energized and get hopping down the floppy-eared assassin's trail. But soon the list of suspects is multiplying faster than a hutch-full of rabbits. And Judith might very well end up a basket case-or worse-before this whole thing is through...now the the party-planning sleuth's unsolicited snooping has put a killer hot on her cottontail!
Customer Reviews:
I like the charecters but it was very perdictable!!!!.......2002-09-01
This is the First book i have read by Mary Daheim. She is a Good author who makes very good charecter development but she should focus more on the plot and the mystery. I am not a person to give awayt the story or to tell you parts i like and dislikes because that will be something that you will have to decide for yourself. I will continue to read more of her books but i hope her others are a lot more exciting and with alot more twist and turns!!
Very entertaining.......2001-11-05
This is one of the earlier books in the series. Judith is getting ready for Easter on the Hill. The annual SOTS Easter Egg Hunt is Easter Saturday, so Judith brings some of Gertrude's famous potato salad to the event. Neighbor Wilbur Paine is the Easter Bunny. Judith thought that all had gone pretty well, until she is informed that one of her neighbors, who had just received a big inheritance, was stabbed to death in the nursery. Joe asks for her help and she of course can't say no.
This is one of the best books in the series. Judith and Renie's attempts to investigate are hilarious, as are their neighbors and family. Every time I pick up one of Daheim's books I hope for one like this but unfortunately, the later ones are less and less funny and more silly. I hope to find more like this one.
The Easter Bunny murder.......2001-02-24
Judith McMonigle does the catering for a church brunch and Easter egg hunt. During the course of the morning she spots someone in a rabbit suit exiting the church in a hurry. Later, it is discovered that a murder has taken place and the rabbit suit is covered with the victim's blood. Judith knows who was orginally in the suit, but does not know if someone else stole the suit before commiting the murder. The murder victim is discovered to have a surprising secret and this leads Judith to try to solve the mystery, despite crossing paths with her ex-fiance, Joe Flynn. This is an entertaining "cozy" and it takes many twists and turns before the murderer is revealed.
Easter on Seattle's Queen Anne Hill!.......1999-09-11
This is one book in a series of bed-and-breakfast mysteries set in Seattle, Washington. Anyone familiar with the city can tell that the author, Mary Daheim, has changed the place names, but retained the feel of the city in accurate descriptions. Heraldsgate Hill is really Queen Anne Hill. Norway General Hospital is really Swedish Hospital. Papaya Pete's restaurant is really Trader Vics. Donner and Blitzen department store is really the now defunct Frederick and Nelsons. Nordquist is Nordstroms. The Belle Epoch is The Bon Marche, now known just as The Bon. Moonbeams coffee house is really Starbucks, and so on. The descriptions are so accurately and fondly drawn that the reader experiences a warm sense of being there, especially if one has actually lived in Seattle at one time. The relationships of the characters are sometimes feisty but honest and often very funny. I recommend this whole series.
Book Description
It is tempting to regard the perpetrators of the September 11th terrorist attacks as evil incarnate. But their motives, as Bruce Lincoln’s acclaimed Holy Terrors makes clear, were profoundly and intensely religious. Thus what we need after the events of 9/11, Lincoln argues, is greater clarity about what we take religion to be.
Holy Terrors begins with a gripping dissection of the instruction manual given to each of the 9/11 hijackers. In their evocation of passages from the Quran, we learn how the terrorists justified acts of destruction and mass murder “in the name of God, the most merciful, the most compassionate.” Lincoln then offers a provocative comparison of President Bush’s October 7, 2001 speech announcing U.S. military action in Afghanistan alongside the videotaped speech released by Osama bin Laden just a few hours later. As Lincoln authoritatively demonstrates, a close analysis of the rhetoric used by leaders as different as George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden—as well as Mohamed Atta and even Jerry Falwell—betrays startling similarities. These commonalities have considerable implications for our understanding of religion and its interrelationships with politics and culture in a postcolonial world, implications that Lincoln draws out with skill and sensitivity.
With a chapter new to this edition, “Theses on Religion and Violence,” Holy Terrors remains one of the essential books on September 11 and a classic study on the character of religion.
“Modernity has ended twice: in its Marxist form in 1989 Berlin, and in its liberal form on September 11, 2001. In order to understand such major historical changes we need both large-scale and focused analyses—a combination seldom to be found in one volume. But here Bruce Lincoln . . . has given us just such a mix of discrete and large-picture analysis.”—Stephen Healey, Christian Century
“From time to time there appears a work . . . that serves to focus the wide-ranging, often contentious discussion of religion’s significance within broader cultural dynamics. Bruce Lincoln’s Holy Terrors is one such text. . . . Anyone still struggling toward a more nuanced comprehension of 9/11 would do well to spend time with this book.”—Theodore Pulcini, Middle East Journal
Customer Reviews:
Required reading for the thoughtful American.......2006-11-06
Lincoln's work is an attempt to formulate a theory of religion. While his success on that front is open to criticism, he gives an impeccable presentation of the religious dimensions of the American/Arab/Christian/Muslim/politics debate. Anyone who wants to hone their understanding of 80% of front page news should read this. Besides it gives documented proof of why Falwell and Robertson should not be listened to...ever...about anything.
Book Description
Nearly three years after 9/11, the war on terror is far from over. In fact, a leading terrorism expert argues that despite the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the efforts of the Department of Homeland Security, we're not really any safer at all.
Harvey Kushner, a respected adviser to the FBI, the FAA, the INS, and other government agencies, offers frightening new evidence of a unified Islamic terrorist network that is operating inside the United States and planning new opportunities to strike.
Kushner identifies and assesses the violent plans of these Islamic organizations and individuals who take advantage of our reluctance to engage in ethnic profiling. He supports his claims with never-before-seen documents from top-level government sources, exposing a secret network of Arab intelligence agencies, terrorists, university professors, corrupt imams and other religious leaders, and violent criminals.
Some members of this network are recent immigrants; others have been American citizens for years. Some are laundering money from abroad through seemingly innocuous charities and mosques. Some have even infiltrated our military as Arabic translators and Muslim chaplains.
Finding and stopping these conspiracies will require drastic changes in the way Americans think about terrorism. Kushner's proposals will spark a lively but essential debate about homeland security, civil liberties, immigration, law enforcement, and our nation's most basic values and ideals.
Customer Reviews:
WOW.......2006-09-09
The best description of the Islamic threat between two covers. Read it and arm yourself with the facts.
Know who deceives.......2006-08-29
This is a good compliment to the 9/11 commission report. Should be read by all. Denial is not going to make the problem go away. The book is easily understandable, concise and to the point. The book deals with Islamic networks in our universities, charities, prisons, and mosques. The drug connections, counterfeiting rings, our media, profiling and our government agencies are also covered.
A Must Read For Every American........2006-08-27
A very informative book, about how Islam wants to take over America and the Western World by any means. If you are a Jew,
Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, you are an infidel, convert to Islam
or "DIE" is the way they think.
Harveys the man!.......2006-08-27
Holy War on the homefront is a homerun! It is packed with the relevant truths of exactly what has been going on in America for a long time now, long before September 11, 2001. It takes the reader on a Journey that starts in our universities and winds through our prison system, Muslim charities, the counterfeiting rings and the drug cartels. Not since American Jihad by Steve Emerson, has a book given me more factual information in real world easy to follow format. These secret Islamic Terror networks are not just the big name Muslim organizations, but are the mom and pop shops that are in every major city in America. Like American Jihad, I will probably be reading this book more than once.
Freak Out Over Old News.......2006-05-08
This book was a great disappointment. Maybe if it had been printed BEFORE 9/11 it might have been worth talking about, but it is all old news. Not only that, but Kushner writes like a raving, paranoid lunatic on a caffeine binge. Obviously he loves to freak out and thinks you should be hysterical, too.
For instance, he believes that every neighborhood mosque is preaching bloody jihad against America, and every Muslim is a wannabe suicide bomber. Not.
If you haven't already picked up 99% of this material from listening to Fox News you have must have willfully turned down your hearing aid.
Customer Reviews:
Like a twisted "Dangerous Liaisons".......2000-12-28
Elisabeth and Paul, siblings, are orphaned in adolescence and build a private, closed world for themselves that slowly isolates them in their own brand of madness. When Elisabeth discovers that Paul is falling in love with a girl named Agatha (who reminds him of his childhood love Dargelos), she manipulates Gérard (who's in love with Elisabeth) into marrying Agatha. Paul tries to kill himself and confesses to Agatha, and the two piece together Elisabeth's treachery, leading to the story's final, implosive end. Cocteau's novel is magnificent, and wait until you see the movie based on this...
Book Description
Holy Terror is a profound and timely investigation of the idea of terror, drawing upon political, philosophical, literary, and theological sources to trace a genealogy from the ancient world to the modern day. Rather than add to the mounting pile of political studies of terrorism, Terry Eagleton offers here a metaphysics of terror with a serious historical perspective. Writing with remarkable clarity and persuasive insight he examines a concept whose cultural impact predates 9/11 by millennia. From its earliest manifestations in rite and ritual, through the French Revolution to the 'War on Terror' of today, terror has been regarded with both horror and fascination. Eagleton examines the duality of the sacred (both life-giving and death-dealing) and relates it, via current and past ideas of freedom, to the idea of terror itself. Stretching from the cult of Dionysus to the thought of Jacques Lacan, the book takes in en route ideas of God, freedom, the sublime, and the unconscious. It also examines the problem of evil, and devotes a concluding chapter to the idea of tragic sacrifice and the scapegoat. Written by one of the world's foremost cultural critics, Holy Terror is a provocative and ambitious examination of one of the most urgent issues of our time.
Customer Reviews:
The sin of moral equivalence.......2006-04-25
As early as the first page of this work Eagelton shows his political colors. He accuses the Pentagon and the United States of being guilty of terror in the same way as those Islamic groups which deliberately target civilians are. This is an irresponsible and mistaken claim.
In fact Eagelton's method of mixing literary references with matter- of - fact happenings give a sense that he has no real experience , no true understanding of the subject. The gruesome cruel deliberate targeting of civilians for political purposes is not much illuminated by abstruse and complicated jargon- making.
Terror's is not holy. It is Evil.
Seven out of ten...........2005-11-15
This is very much a philosophical reflection on the idea of terror, as it is on concepts such as life, death, love, desire, good and evil. Eagleton asks us to think critically about what these words imply, instead of accepting interpretations which we may have inherited.
It is extremely theorectical, very much academic and written in a style can feel like the author is deliberately trying to exclude readers. It is full of specific literary references - most of the time it doesn't make a huge difference if you don't know the work in question,but other times it does. Eagleton slows down for nobody, nor is he one to offer explanations for certain things where they might be needed.
This book is not about international relations, foreign policy or the differences between civilizations. It is a reflection, and as such it works very well indeed. Overall a commendable piece of work.
An Excellent Work About the History of Terrorism.......2005-10-21
Terry Eagleton has written an excellent, albeit dense, history of terrorism. Eagleton's argument is that terrorism is actually a modern method that has its roots in the French Revolution.
Eagleton's work is both well reasoned and researched. If you want a good, solid general survey about terrorism history, then this is the book for you.
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