Book Description
The struggle for the soul of Europe today is every bit as dire and consequential as it was in the 1930s. Then, in Weimar, Germany, the center did not hold, and the light of civilization nearly went out. Today, the continent has entered yet another “Weimar moment.” Will Europeans rise to the challenge posed by radical Islam, or will they cave in once again to the extremists?
As an American living in Europe since 1998, Bruce Bawer has seen this problem up close. Across the continent—in Amsterdam, Oslo, Copenhagen, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, and Stockholm—he encountered large, rapidly expanding Muslim enclaves in which women were oppressed and abused, homosexuals persecuted and killed, “infidels” threatened and vilified, Jews demonized and attacked, barbaric traditions (such as honor killing and forced marriage) widely practiced, and freedom of speech and religion firmly repudiated.
The European political and media establishment turned a blind eye to all this, selling out women, Jews, gays, and democratic principles generally—even criminalizing free speech—in order to pacify the radical Islamists and preserve the illusion of multicultural harmony. The few heroic figures who dared to criticize Muslim extremists and speak up for true liberal values were systematically slandered as fascist bigots. Witnessing the disgraceful reaction of Europe’s elites to 9/11, to the terrorist attacks on Madrid, Beslan, and London, and to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Bawer concluded that Europe was heading inexorably down a path to cultural suicide.
Europe's Muslim communities are powder kegs, brimming with an alienation born of the immigrants’ deep antagonism toward an infidel society that rejects them and compounded by misguided immigration policies that enforce their segregation and empower the extremists in their midst. The mounting crisis produced by these deeply perverse and irresponsible policies finally burst onto our television screens in October 2005, as Paris and other European cities erupted in flames.
WHILE EUROPE SLEPT is the story of one American’s experience in Europe before and after 9/11, and of his many arguments with Europeans about the dangers of militant Islam and America’s role in combating it. This brave and invaluable book—with its riveting combination of eye-opening reportage and blunt, incisive analysis—is essential reading for anyone concerned about the fate of Europe and what it portends for the United States.
Customer Reviews:
Good read, unique perspective.......2007-10-10
Excellent book written from the point of view of a man who really stands to lose a lot as islam strangles out Europe's sense of personal freedoms. Demonstrating his frustrations over how liberals can't see how their own soft racism against muslims is turning the disenfranchised muslim populations against the mainstream and will eventually lead to the loss of all the things liberals hold most dearly.
a little honesty.......2007-10-08
Given that Zionism has hijecked US policy, how ironic, but expected, it is that a book on 'Islam' would come out to suggest that it is Islam that is destroying the West from within? Rather, Zionism is a theory that would steal land from a group of people on a moribund 2000 year old claim and say that group's rights don't matter - Please explain why should the Palestinians be Zionists?
Serious Eye Opener.......2007-09-26
Having read a number of books about Islam and its role in the world, I didn't expect to find much I didn't know in this book. I was astonished at how much I learned!
The author takes a variety of social aspects - education, immigration, media, legislation and law enforcement to name a few - and pulls them all together to give a clear picture of what life on the streets of Europe is like for the burgeoning Muslim population and the rest of us.
Although I wasn't expecting or appreciative of the author's homosexual-rights bias, there was no denying the truth of his words or the accuracy of his information.
Every American should have to read this book, and our legislators need to take it's warnings to heart if we want to avoid the disaster that Europe now faces.
IN REALITY, AN OLD PROBLEM IN A NEW FORM.......2007-09-21
I'll break my review into several parts:
1). In the Fall of 1989, I served as a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow at the Vrije Unviersity of AMsterdam. Everything Bawer describes about European values, attitudes,society, their elites, etc., is absolutely correct. I saw it first hand. Because of the demise of patriotism and a value system, Dutch (and much of European) society has become one where social standards have evaporated. Thus, lacking a moral and ethical compass, an understanding of what is right and wrong, and a devotion to a coddling welfare state, they have created a vacuum that the Jihadists are only too willing and eager to fill. They created their own mess.
However, what he describes is ingrained in the Euroopean system throughout their history. I know. I immigrated from there as a child. Just the players have changed.
2). What Bawer did not disclose. WHile In the Netherlands, I discovered that Dutch corporations preferentially recruit workers from the military to staff the assembly line to the Board room. Many of these former military types "yearn to be of public service" and run for their parliament. Close to 55% of elected Dutch officials have a military background.
In 1989, I asked someone in the US Embassy what would happen if an economic turn down occurred. Would these ex-miltiary elected officials say "Ya, right, let's take over and run ze country like za military to fix ze problems" and would this lead to the re-emergence of militaristic fascism? I was made to understand this was a major concern. Bawer is correct in raising the issue of re-emerging fascism in response to the rising tide of Islamistc fascism in Europe, but he understated it. Likely, that will be the outcome to counter the Jihadists when crunch-time comes.
As my father once told me "beware of the man on a white horse." European hsitory is a continuiong saga of leaders on white horses, and becsue history repeats, it is likely to happen again.
Bawer also did not mention the following. European countries with former empires have only themselves to blame. When they gave up their empire, they still considered former residents (including native/ethnic people) of their "colonies" to be be citizens of the "Empire" and gave them British and French and Dtuch passports for openers. Many used these passports to immigrate to the UK, the Netherlands, and France. In 1960 when visiting London, I was astounded at the number of Pakistanis working as bus ticket collectors, street sweepers, and garbage men because British workers didn't want to do those job and instead collect welfare. Those Pakistanis saved their money, opened businesses, imported their wives and proceeded to multiply at a high rate, while establishing mosques and then importing immans.
3). What are the solutions?: Bawer really didn't have many. So here are some. First, if it is true that immigrants are tearing up their ID's and flushing them down the toilet on airplanes on the way to Europe and then claiming asylum, European governments COULD require that all ID's be turned over at check in, taken on board in a sealed container, and returned to the incoming passengers on landing at the immigration counter in the presence of a European immigration officer. That might slow things down with regard to fake asylum.
Second, European government should start shipping out ALL radical Muslim immans and radical Islmaic sympathizers (including those born in Europe) back to the country of their heritage.
Third, European governments should require that all children born in their country of foreign parents must attend school in Europe, and not be shipped at age 3 back to the Islamic world for an education, only to reappear later as adults. All subsidies for such children should be stopped if they leave the country. The only exception would be if the parents leave the country permanently too.
Fourth, Eruopean governments MUST stop subsidizing all religious schools, denominations, and institutions if they truly want to separate Church and State. Clearly, the failure to do so has been misunderstood, abused and corrupted.
Fifth, require all incoming "fetch brides" to be screened by embassies around the world before giving them visas. Use a system like the US uses in such circumstances.
Sixth, place a limit on the number of children the government will subsidize to three children. If a family has more than three children, no subsidies for the new ones. (Works in China to a point?)
If Bawer has sized up European attitudes correctly, and I believe he has, don't expect this to happen. But these proposals would help contain the problem in part.
Last, I have a question for Bawer? Why does he still chose to live in Europe? When I left the Netherlands in 1989 after living there six months, I vowed never to return and I haven't. It was bad then, and has become worse now.
RECOMMENDATION: Buy this book. It could happen in the USA and there are signs that in some parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states some of this is developing.
Bawer's Jeremiad against Europe.......2007-09-15
I saw Bruce Bawer on Bill Moyers and thought the idea of his book was fascinating. I had been watching news stories about the Muslim underclass in Europe and figured that there was a powder keg in the making, and I thought this book would enlighten me. In the first part of this book he states his central thesis, which is that the liberalism of European states will be the very thing that does them in, vis-a-vis their Muslim populations. He makes good points about Europeans not really understanding the meaning of true integration, about their romantic notions of other "exotic" cultures, and political correctness continuing to allow - if not condone - the worst practices of Muslim religious fanaticism.
Up until the middle of the book I was with him. Then, with the second part of the three-part book, he lets loose about every niggling little thing that any random European might have done or said to him that got under his skin. He clearly has lived in Europe too long. He proceeds to whine about how anti-American all Europeans are, how wonderful American-style capitalism is and just about deifies Ronald Reagan, who, he implies, singlehandedly brought down the Berlin Wall. He accuses liberals such as Michael Moore of lying about how bad the health system is in the US, questions how really "poor" Hurricane Katrina victims were and spends an inordinate amount of time dissecting the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Huh? This is NOT why I bought the book.
I realized that this book was less about how European nations were dealing with their immigration problems and more about how homesick he was for the US - and, how Europe's social economy was just way, way too "liberal" for him.
He's a facile writer, and when he wasn't blowing his stack about Europe and praising the US I rather enjoyed the read. But I just felt that the book used the European immigration situation as a thin ruse for the real topic of the book...bashing Europe. Had I known that, I wouldn't have bought it.
Book Description
Radical Islam has long desired to seize Jerusalem and cut it off to Christian and Jewish believers. In his revealing new book, The Fight for Jerusalem, bestselling author and former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold explains why the battle for Jerusalem is intensifying today. Gold shows why only Israel can preserve its holy places for Christians, Jews, and even Muslims, and why uncovering Jerusalem's past-and the truth of biblical history-can be the key to saving its future.
Customer Reviews:
A politically charged yet thoughtfully reasoned exhortation .......2007-10-06
Former Israel ambassador to the U.N. (among his many other credentials) Dore Gold presents The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the future of the Holy City, a serious-minded discussion of the future of Jerusalem, a city holy to Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The Fight for Jerusalem makes a convincing argument that for Jerusalem to be a free city where all faiths can be practiced, it will have to remain under Israeli sovereignty, because the United Nations cannot be relied upon to protect it and the Muslim Palestinians have become increasingly affected by a branch of radical Islam that seeks to eliminate other faiths from Jerusalem, not co-exist with them. Drawing upon meticulous scholarly research, The Fight for Jerusalem addresses how Palestinians are destroying archaeological evidence of ancient Jewish presence in Jerusalem, particularly on the Temple Mount; how Western diplomatic concessions strengthen the apocalyptic speculations of radical Muslims; how the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza brought more power to Palestinian extremists at the expense of Palestinian moderates; why negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority over the status of Jerusalem have little chance of creating an agreement; and much more. It should be noted that The Fight for Jerusalem specifically denounces the religious intolerance radical Islam, and recognizes that the majority of the Muslim world is not radical, though The Fight for Jerusalem decries the increasing power that radical Islamic factions have. A politically charged yet thoughtfully reasoned exhortation on how Jerusalem, a potential focal point of radical Islam's jihad against the West, can best be preserved for future generations.
More In This Vein Needed.......2007-07-12
Mr. Gold has had an intriguing history of exposing through historical precedents and context the most interesting institutions. This book is no exception with Jerusalem, the city in the Middle East that can perhaps be said to represent the modicum of freedom and Western values that exists there, and why it's imperative that it be held and protected against any antithetical forces surrounding it, either there or abroad.
Dore Gold does the reader and novice (or even university-educated) reader a great and grandiose service by documenting not just how long the Jews have been living in modern Israel, but showing us just how long they've been under attack, kept as slaves, as Dhimmis, whipped commodities of Europe's countries, and generally how it all started. The Bar-Kochba revolution against the just-turned Roman imperialists is a great account, told with brevity, but demonstrating what the Jews have been through just to hold on to their tiny piece of land, and how many empires have swept through it.
A previous writer said that there's blame on both sides to the conflict, and that giving away land to the anarchistic Palestinian terror groups is being open minded. I would pose the question that Dore Gold answers for us: If Jerusalem and its surrounding environs were given over eventually to Arabic, Islamic forces, there would be no tolerance of religion whatsoever for any soul in the land. Already, the last Christians are fleeing any part of Israel that is controlled by Palestinian faction groups, whose version of Islam doesn't even allow for Fatah's to promulgate.
There are previous accusations that Gold's sources are flimsy. Since when are speeches of those involved, podcasts of the same, and books irrelevant and not conducive to research? What's omitted from some critics' reviews is the presentation of vast amounts of historical and recent archeological surfacing that has vindicated those who taught us about the unified Davidic Kingdom and the tribes of Israel before his time. If you don't read more than the first 2 chapters, you're already richly rewarded by gaining a historical eye covering about 1400 years of Israelite history.
I think one of the most important misnomers that have stuck with us is that the land of ancient Canaan/Israel was only named Palestine by the Romans once they began establishing exploratory garrisons. They aptly named it after "Philistines" who had residence there still after so many quasi-empiric swaths through Israel.
Dore Gold might be a nationalist-rightist when it comes to Israel, but how do we coin the conservative label when Gold's main theme for the conflict is encouraging us to look at what happens every time Israel DOES cede land that THEY held onto by being the victor of a grossly-agressive war by the major Arabic countries. Look at Hamas in Gaza, exterminating all their Fatah "brothers," showing us that the muhajadeen applies to their own kind as well.
Gore's book is a real justice and service that lends some researched wisdom as to what's been happening in Israel, and how other Arabic nations are overwhelmingly complicit in the plight of the Palestinians. What else can we expect from a people who declare all of Palestine theirs by right, have rejected statehood 3 times, and have it in their charter (Hamas, Fatah) and educational materials (The PA) to disregard Jews as human and an unregognizing of Israel's right to live and survive? As we've seen, we can't expect much, only chaos, wasted Western money that helped almost no Palestinian when it's in their hands, and a drive to throwback tribalism that knows no bounds as to the glories of fighting Jews and infidels. This is a great history book that should be on everyone's shelves, even if you wish to "hear no evil,see no evil," which I like to call "disagreeing" with it.
Again, if there is to be any alternative to religous and secular tolerance in the Middle East, it has proven only to be in Israel, and the state's poliltical and religious flag, Jerusalem, cannot be given over or divided if it is to remain that way. Dore Gold has made that painstakingly clear, and it gives us great hope to see the victories of Israel against forces that would see it otherwise--which is most of the world.
excellent analysis of issues about Jerusalem.......2007-06-27
Dore Gold writes with typical clarity concerning the issues concerning Jerusalem, including the battles going back through the ages. If you want to get a readable, informative history, then get this book.
Propaganda passing for scholarly research.......2007-06-05
Dore Gold is one of the hardline political opeatives who worked for Ariel Sharon and found Sharon's moderating politics towards the end of his political careeer not to his liking. Gold's view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is quite close to the ultra-nationalist politics of Likud. For him, any compromise with the Palestinians enourages more terror. Hamas are no better than the Taliban. If Israel gives them an inch of Jerusalem they will take a mile and turn Jerusalem into the capital of the new world-wide Muslim caliphate.
Despite miles of footntoes, Gold relies for evidence on surprisingly flimsy reeds: podcasts, websites, sermons and books are the proof he uses to claim that there is a worldwide Muslim conspiracy to take over Jerusalem and the rest of the western world.
If you're a neocon or a hardline supporter of the Israeli right, you'll love this book. It will confirm all yr worst fears of Arabs. But if you try to keep an open mind about this conflict and find both fault and favor with both sides, then steer clear. This is a propaganda tract that passes itself off as a thoroughly researched scholarly tome.
The fight for Jerusalem and the clash of civilizations .......2007-05-16
This book is divided into three sections. In the first the religious dimension of Jerusalem is considered. The meaning of Jerusalem for Ancient Israel, for Christianity , and for Classical Islam are accurately and fairly outlined. In the second part of the book which considers the diplomatic struggle over Jerusalem, there is chapter devoted to the Birth of 'Modern Israel', one to 'Jerusalem, the Palestinian Arabs and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan', and one to the 'Arab- Israel Peace Process.' The third and most important section of the book is devoted to Radical Islam and Jerusalem. There is a chapter on 'Destruction of the Holy Sites', one on 'Jerusalem as Apocalyptic Trigger for Radical Islam, one 'The West and the Freedom of Jerusalem'.
In this third section of the book Gold gives a short history of the development of Radical Islam. He tells of the Islamic destruction of the religious sites of other faiths, from the largest Buddhist statues in the world in Afghanistan to sites in the heart of the Arab world. He shows how Western diplomatic concessions have not led to moderation but rather an intensification of fanaticism by radical Islamists. He tells the story of the Muslim destruction of important archaeological remains in Jerusalem. He shows how radical Islam's obsession with Jerusalem is another manifestation of the clash of civilizations between radical Islam and other religious faiths and civilizations.
The demonstrating of Islamic disrespect and destruction for the Holy Places of others is at the heart of his argument that Jerusalem must remain undivided under Israeli rule. Additional evidence for this claim is given by the Palestinian reaction to Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the Shiite Hizbollah's reaction to Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Both of these withdrawals did not lead to moderation and peace, but rather to more violence against Israel. Gold shows how the Islamist Palestinians have when given civilian control over a city or area persecuted and led to the exile of its Christians .The most blatant example is Bethlehem which has not simply lost its Christian majority but seen the greatest share of its Christian population leave the City. Gold says that had Israel in September 2000 relinquished control over the Old City of Jerusalem to the Palestinians the result would have been the destruction of a a good share of it. Gold also considers the possibility of internationalization of the Holy City , and provides convincing evidence that the U.N. could not handle this job effectively any more than it handled the job in Rwanda or Bosnia. Gold also points to the inherent prejudice of the U.N. against Israel, and says it could never be a fair and efficient manager of the Holy Sites.
This book makes a very strong case for Israel's maintaining exclusive control of the city.
But the arguments it presents focus more on the negatives of Islamic control than the positives of Israeli control. I would have liked to see more expansive treatment of how Israel has enhanced the city since taking over the Old City in 1967.
Nonetheless this is a must read for those for whom Jerusalem, and its future, is dear.
Book Description
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger-now Pope Benedict XVI-joins Marcello Pera, President of the Italian Senate, to offer a provocative critique of the spiritual, cultural, and political crisis afflicting the West.
Bringing together their unique vantage points as leaders of Church and State, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Marcello Pera challenge us to imagine what can be the future of a civilization that has abandoned its moral and cultural history. They call on the West to embrace a spiritual rather than political renewal -and to accept the moral values that alone can help us to make sense of changes in technology, economics, and society.
Customer Reviews:
So There ARE Europeans That Don't Despise Us!.......2007-08-22
I didn't know much about Ratzinger before I picked this up so I was suprised to see him giving praise to the United States and not doing things like, you know, calling the fight against anti-Semitism, Islamic psychopaths and Pan-Arab Authoritarianism a "great loss for humanity." I couldn't agree more. The future of the world and the West in particular looks pretty bleak at times in my view. Who's going to do it if not us? We defeated Fascism and Communism by ourselves. Once more we have to swoop to rescue our European friends from the latest threat while they cower in fear.
Why is the United States so willing to fight these battles both figurative and literal while Europeans seem to care less? Ratzinger argues the reason for this is that Americans aren't completely consumed with self-hatred the way Europeans are although we're about halfway there. As he put it, we Americans "aren't afraid to love ourselves."
Important point to make because Europeans like to kid themselves into thinking they hate Americans because of the War in Iraq when in actuality they hate us because we're religous, because of our success, and because they'd all be speaking German or living on communes if it weren't for us. Since those threats have been defeated Europe is starting to reconsider its friendship with America now that the relationship doesn't seem as important as it used to.
This self-love, our religiousity, our belief in ourselves, our belief in liberty for all humanity, our relationship with Israel; all of this gives America a unique position in the world today and should, as Ratzinger argues, bring us to recognize the important role we have in preserving the West and bettering all of humanity.
As the Islamic World continues to invade the West, terrorize the citizens of Europe and ghoulishly obsess about the annihilation of world Jewry the United States is and will be the only one to confront these great problems. If we don't stand up then who knows what will happen to liberty and human rights in another century or two especially with the rise of China. If these problems aren't snuffed out then all of humanity could be facing a darkness that makes relativism look like a Sunday morning walk in the park.
Manifesto against Cultural Relativism .......2007-08-17
This short book is definitely worth the price. It can be read in one day and has the usual brilliant analysis of relativism & the decline of Christianity in Europe by Benedict XVI, but what made the book even more special was Marcello Pera's contribution .It was interesting to hear a secular non-Christian view of post-modernism and cultural relativism. Every Christian regardless of denomination and non-Christian interested in preserving an "open society" would benefit from reading this book.
The Pope Knows.......2007-04-11
This is an excellent book that puts the European situation vis a vis Islam in perspective. Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XII has a deep knowledge of the great divide between Christianity and Islam and realizes that Islam is slowly taking over in Europe. This is a very serious problem to the future of the world.
It is of great concern to us because it could spill over to the U.S. and would be very detrimental to our country.
This is an excellent book that should be read by all so they understand what Western civilization is up against.
Phenomenal Reflection for a Culture on the Edge of Death.......2007-01-22
This collection of essays stands as a testimony on behalf of the West as it drills itself into the ground of Relativism and apathy. Marcello Pera's lecture stands for me as a refreshing breeze coming from the heart of a Europe which has nearly completely bought into the destructive force of Philosophical Relativism. The very dangers of this school of thought are laid out well, as Pera reflects upon how it is freezing the West and is giving it atrophy as conviction dies. Surprisingly, the philosopher-senator also answers the problem of Islamic extremism and the need for response against it. However, Pera's primary focus is the refutation of relativism and the exposition of the ossifying dangers inherent therein.
The speech given by Pope Benedict (then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger) focuses more on the cultural heritage of the West and its roots in the Mediterranean. In the face of the decline of the West, the Pope offers a positive assessment of the hopes for development by means of "energetic minorities," a topic which is fleshed out in somewhat greater detail in the correspondence included as an appendix to the essays. This idea remains as a hopeful focus against the semi-biologicistic view of culture as a birth-growth-death process which has no hope of breaking out of a death spiral. The continuity of Ratzinger's understanding of the West through history, a continuity which historically has braved storms of philosophical uncertainty by means of energetic groups (be they monastic, academic, or familial).
In view of the grim realities reflected on by both Ratzinger and Pera as they speak of the West's Fall, they both build a staunchly Christian-underpinning for Europe, an under-pinning which is necessary to have roots for the survival. This discussion is all-the-more convincing in light of Pera's atheism which still acknowledges the philosophical necessity of Christianity to combat relativism and restore the roots of the West.
This strong, sober, yet hopeful vision for the West which is a necessary read for us living in a crucial period of history for not only the Church, Europe, and the Extended West but for the entire world.
Christianity in Europe.......2007-01-18
The first 30 pages were hard to get through but after that it was great. There is mention that not only does Christianity offer happiness in the next life, as does Islam, but it offers a better life in this world. I recommend it for all who are wondering if any religion is better than any other. Not light reading but worth the effort.
Book Description
This Foreign Affairs bestseller from MSNBC terrorism expert Walid Phares allows a frightening look into the future of jihad. Phares--who has served as an expert with the Justice Department, briefed the Defense and State Departments, and testified to Congress--shows that ther has been a fundamental misunderstanding about al Qaeda's ultimate goal in the West and what victory means to jihadists. Future Jihad shows how our defenses have been infiltrated; identifies the future generation of home-grown terrorists; and points the way for America to win the ideological war at the heart of jihad.
Customer Reviews:
If you want to see how they are going to destroy us..........2007-09-03
Read on... This is a must for anyone who wants to see how they are destroying us, and what they intend. It is an absolute must for every American, Canadian, European, Latino.... this is a war of culture, religion, and people versus people. We are in the last stage of war, where one people rise up against another irrespective of nation, politics, philosophy, resources or technology. It is an all out war to the death of one, or the other. There is no compromise, there is no middle ground, there is no peace. There is only death or surrender.
A must read!!.......2007-09-03
This book is a must read for anyone who is a true student of counterterrorism studies. Well writen, a real eye opener!
Informative.......2007-08-11
The book provides historical prospective and covers current Jihad plans and tactics. It is a read that all Americans should read to understand our current Terrorist situation and challenge. I highly recommend it for all Americans, especially our elected officials who are invovled in protecting American.
Essential Primer for Dealing with Global Jihad.......2007-07-03
Lecturing and writing about world jihad in the 1990s when hardly anyone was listening, Walid Phares, who hails from Lebanon and who fled the violence and found exile in the United States in 1990, has written the essential primer in order for America, and the Western free world, to repel global jihad. He shows with mastery that jihad is not some recent crackpot idea that Osama Bin Laden cooked up in the last decade or so. To the contrary, jihad is part of a master plan that was set into motion when the Islamacists conquered the Medina back in the Eighth Century. Phares goes into the mind of the jihadist and shows how his jihad, currently sponsored by Saudi-funded Wahabism, is a long-term goal, namely, to make the entire world beholden to strict Muslim Law, Sharia. The tenacity and Machiavellian techniques employed are blood-curdling. After analyzing the jihadi master plan, Phares explains America's denial and complacency, characteristics that will result in our demise if we don't wake up soon. This book is that wakeup call. It is the definitive primer to dealing with global jihad and mates perfectly with the narrative of 9/11, Lawrence Wright's masterpiece The Looming Tower.
Puts It All Together.......2007-06-26
Not a difficult read...yet puts together in historical context the development of the different lines of Islam, their internecine conflicts, leading to the state of Jihad today and for the future.
If you ever wondered how the Grand Mufti could have become an SS General in Berlin, or how "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" has led to chaos in the modern world, this book will make sense to you. It will help you understand what world Jihad is all about, and why a united Muslim front is difficult to obtain.
Most highly recommended for serious student of modern geopolitics!
Book Description
In this book the author uncovers the cause of global violence that the established media would rather you ignore. He reveals why the threat of violent jihad is growing daily, despite our recent victory in Iraq.
Customer Reviews:
USA - Ignore the evils of Islam at your peril.......2007-07-07
I have read all of Robert Spencer's books and they are all right on as to documented facts. He is on the hit list of most major Islamic organizations because they know he speaks the truth and his facts and sources are on record. I didn't have a clue as to the dangers to the civilizied world of Islam until 9/11. After 9/11 I did extensive research on all aspects of Islam and what I found greatly concerned and scared me. Just recently in Rome, Ga., a small town north of Atlanta, the authorities uncovered a Islamic terrorist cell in a mosque in Rome. A friend and I tried to get permission to attend a mosque in North Atlanta to find out what is being preached by the Imams, but were told we could go on a sanctioned tour but not attend a service. I fear that most of the USA mosques are condoning terrorism against the infidels. Otherwise why won't they let us attend their services? And why don't you hear from "moderate Muslims" about the evils of terrorism? You can attend any other religious service in the US without any restrictions?
DISTORTION .......2007-05-04
A POORLY WRITTEN BOOK,WITH MULTIPLE DISTORTIONS AND QUOTATIONS INTERPRETED TO CONFORM TO A POLITICAL AGENDA.MUSLIM TERRORISM IS A SERIOUS THREAT WE ALL MUST BE CONCERNED ABOUT,HOWEVER THE HISTORY OF VIOLENCE AND ASSAULTS ON OTHER COUNTRIES IS NOT PARTICULAR TO ISLAM. ISLAM IS NOT JUST A RELIGION,IT IS A POLITICAL RELIGIOUS AND ECONOMIC IDEA.THE AUTHOR'S ""research"WAS SELECTIVE AND IT IS EVIDENT FROM THE FIRST FEW PAGES HIS ONE SIDED PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS ABOUT ISLAMIC AND WORLD HISTORY IN GENERAL.
Evidence to make the case: Islam is not all about peace .......2006-12-03
Robert Spencer assembles in lawyer-like fashion evidence (there is so much of it that in places it seems like repetition) from the Koran (and other Muslim publications) and from Islamic history -- to make the case that there is, even today, real power (the Bible does not have the same kind of power today) in these ancient writings -- and these Holy Words are a source violence. The actions of the West are not the main cause of the problem.
Without pressure from the outside the essence of the Koran (found at the end part of the Koran, according to the author) would still call on Muslims to strive for Islamic expansion. And force is justified in the many different kinds of situations.
This book should be required reading..by all the Leftist who hate America.......2006-09-28
As an activist who is concerned about the slow death of one of the greatest democracies in the world, this book says why. Unless people understand that we are fighting an enemy, who uses the very freedoms of democracy to destroy it, we are doomed. Everytime I hear about another effigy burning, cars being torched, Churches and Synagogues painted with Swastikas, and the constant "anger" of the Muslim world, I am baffled as to how most of the world either just does not understand, or we live in a world filled with stupid people. We are facing the greatest threat to our life as we know it. Our freedom to travel without fear, to go to work in a tall office building, to congregate in a tourist spot outside of the USA, and freedom to speak without worrying about "anger". As Salman Rushdie said ot our dinner honoring five Muslims who decry the Jihadist radicals and the silent majority, Muslims today need "anger management" and western democracies need to read Robert Spencers books. If we live under the laws of Sharia, typing reviews online like this, and buying books, uncensored, will only be a part of past history. I would like the ability to read, write, speak, and live free, and enjoy others to do the same. Thank you Robert.
An Interpretation of Islam.......2006-05-30
The book starts by explaining how the Quran is translated and how some parts supersede others. This alludes to a dynamic document. This author highlights that the term "jihad" does not refer to a war, but a struggle, and that this definition doesn't appear to change. Jihad is a struggle that will no end until Islam is the supreme religion.
By explaining this, the author quotes many, but without a firm background in this field, we would have no idea who these people are. Is the reader to assume that the people quoted are credible? Although he quotes Edward Said and Noam Chomsky, I wasn't really familiar with most of the people, so I really can't say. The author did have a habit of saying that whenever someone speaking for Islam was quoted saying anything violent or anti-American, then he was "quoted out of context." The author leads to believe that they aren't credible and are changing their story. Towards the end of the book, the proverbial shoe is on the other foot, but he feels we have to accept that his side really was quoted out of context. This turned me off a bit.
The author does bring up a point that I found intriguing, and this was the idea of dhimmitude. Evidently, the Quran says that conversion to Islam must be voluntary. However, Jews and Christians would be required to pay a tax and accept being treated as second-class citizens. Whether this is true or not is merely a good reason to explore the Quran.
The tone of the book seems to be a bit too right-leaning and borderlines baiting. Nonetheless, this book does spark study and discussion.
Book Description
A complete and compelling account of the fall of Constantinople, the siege that gave rise to today's jihad.
When Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, a remarkable era in world history ended. Constantinople, the "city of the world's desire," was a wealthy, imperial, intimidating, and Christian city, influencing world opinion for a thousand years. The fall of Constantinople marked the end of the Byzantium Empire and the end of the medieval era. Thereafter, two worlds would rise -- that of the West and that of the Middle East.
1453 is brought to life by the stories of its two ambitious battling leaders-Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Constantine XI, the 57th emperor of Byzantium. It is a vivid, intense tale of courage and cruelty, of technological ingenuity, of endurance and luck. Impeccably researched and told as a real-life adventure, the book explores the issues that led up to and resulted from the fall of Constantinople in a way that is easily grasped and jumps from the pages into the headlines of world news. 1453 is the story of a moment of change that has new relevance today -- a crucial link in the chain of events that besets the modern world.
Customer Reviews:
Great Read.......2007-09-22
Just an excellent book. The author writing style really helps you imagine in your minds eye the scenes he's describing.
Pushed my buttons........2007-08-22
I'll give this book 3 stars out of charity, and because it may succeed as a work of popular history; indeed, most readers will be satisfied with it.
I can't write an exhaustive review, because I quit reading at p.32,when Crowley says that "the Ottomans ruled their subjects with a light hand. . . . No attempts were made to convert Christians . . ." etc. Ask anyone who's lived under Ottoman rule,if you can still find one of these venerable folk, or talk to their descendants. You'll get a different picture of the situation. Crowley himself describes some of the horrors of the siege, inflicted by these "tolerant" Muslims.
It is true that some Ottoman officials developed a liberal laissez-faire attitude toward the Christians--either out of Levantine indolence or practical intelligence: why harass honest and industrious people? Plus, they pay taxes through the nose. And even Sultan Mehmed II was lenient towards the Christians once he had established his rule. Still, the many horrors remain.
If I'd been at home while reading this book, I would have thrown it across the room. As it was, I was in the car and merely commented on the nonsense to my companions.
Gentle reader, if you really want to learn about the Fall of Constaninople, read Runciman, or Sir Edwin Pears, if you can find his book. Also, the translations of the chronicles of the time.
Informative.......2007-08-13
A more technical treatment of the subject than Sir Steven Runciman's The Fall of Constantinople 1453 (Canto), but I have to admit that I prefer the style of Sir Runciman. What Sir Runciman neglected in detail, Mr. Crowley has provided. But, at the same time, there were points where Mr. Crowley seemed overly concerned with parallels to today (implied somewhat in the subtitle). Despite that minor criticism it is likely the very thing other readers will enjoy about the book. Mr. Crowley also recently did a fine article in Military History magazine concerning the fall of Constantinople and I would recommend that as well for thorough technical detail. This is a thorough and enjoyable work and an important contribution to understanding the last days of Constaniople.
1453........then and now.......2007-07-31
The name Constantinople has always conjured up vague images for me - mystery, grandeur, historical wonder. However, 1453 has expanded my understanding of the city as well as the role it played in world history. Crowley covers the siege and attack of Constantinople by the Turks in 1543. The invasion has truly changed the geopolitical landscape of Europe and Asia since that time. This was truly a Holy War - a fight both between Islam and Christianity, as well as a fight within factions of Christianity. It also highlights the great differences between the understandings of the human condition between these world religions. Neither is innocent and neither is patently evil, but they are very different. Crowley speaks about these differences and the background issues in light of the battle, placing them all in an easily accessible light.
After reading 1453, I find myself realizing that the battles of 1453 have similarities to the battles of the 21st century. The cultural battles are still very similar. The geopolitical issues are still in flux. This view helped make the book even more meaningful today.
great read for the casual reader.......2007-05-15
this book really does a good job of telling the story and focusing both upon the personalities involved and the way that life was for the people in constantinople at the time. it has the right level of depth for someone who's interested in history but is not a specialist.
Book Description
The first warning shots of WW III have already been fired
The escalating terrorist attacks in the Middle East and in major cities in the West are not isolated acts of extremism. They are the first warning shots fired in a coming world war.
For decades, prophecy expert Grant R. Jeffrey has been analyzing geopolitical developments through the lenses of history, religion, and prophecy. As current events unfold according to the prophecies of the Bible, Jeffrey says Islamic extremists are preparing to attack Israel and conquer western civilization–destroying our freedom.
Drawing from firsthand interviews, intelligence reports, and ancient prophecy, Jeffrey reveals:
·Saddam Hussein’s role in the 9/11 attack on America
·Where Iraq hid its Weapons of Mass Destruction
·How Russia and extreme Islam will launch World War III
·The Bible’s prophecy of the destruction of extremist Islam
·How Israel will rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem
With Grant Jeffrey’s incisive and sometimes surprising analysis, you can understand the hidden agenda and powerful players behind today’s news headlines.
Customer Reviews:
Grant Jeffrey opens mouth, nonsense comes out.......2007-05-19
This is the same author who wrote an ENTIRE book predicting the Y2K computer bug would wipe out the economy and usher in the anti-christ. I would have assumed after that fiasco the Christians would have laughed him off the stage, but I assumed wrong. He is still on television and still selling ridiculous books.
I admit I only read the intro to this book at the store. I sure as heck wasn't going to buy it. I also watch him once in a blue moon for a few minutes when I need a laugh.
Jeffrey would have people believe the temple is about to be built any day now. People, listen to me, the temple is in our hearts, it is not the literal temple in Israel. The temple in Israel would be at the Dome of the Rock, one of Islam's most sacred sites. The second Israel went to build there, every nation in the Middle East would IMMEDIATELY declare war on Israel. If you are waiting for the temple to be rebuilt so the end times could begin soon, you better wait thousands of years or more.
Jeffrey says the weapons of mass destruction from Iraq were trucked to Syria where they will be used in the end times war. I voted for George W. Bush twice. I only say that to establish I am not an anti-war leftist. The truth is Iraq NEVER did have weapons of mass destruction. After Sadaam was overthrown, American weapons inspectors offered any Iraqi huge cash rewards and asylum for information on the weapons. Someone in the production, storage, or transport of these weapons would have seized that offer, but they didn't exist. 2)To FURTHER debunk Jeffrey's myth, the weapons have a very limited shelf life once they are produced. They do not stay weapons grade very long, but quickly break down in a matter of months. They would no longer be a military threat even if they were sent to Syria(which they weren't).
My fellow Christians, quit embarrassing the Kingdom by buying this drivel and hopefully these end times idiots will disappear. Revelation is what happens in our hearts. Consider this: In Revelation 8, one-third of the earth is set on fire, one-third of the sea becomes blood, one-third of water is made bitter, one-third of the sun, moon, and stars become dark, insects are tormenting people, billions of people die, a 200 million man army is on the march.....and what do people do??? They line up to take the mark of the beast so they could go on buying and selling!!! Buying and selling what??? Get some common sense people. Revelation is a metaphor for our own individual hearts.
Very informative & well detailed!.......2007-03-20
Mr. Jeffrey dispenses supportive information to his opinion of the second coming of Jesus Christ!
Not only did he displayed supportive information on the second coming, but he thoroughly expelled the most forgotten details which occured in 2002 and beyond (for example, The Spetznaz truck (convoys) leaving Iraq, heading towards Syria and Iran; the disclosure of photos of the Spetznaz convoys (Russian-owned Spetznaz, that is) from the satellite imagery; reports supporting the cover up of nondisclosure removal of the missing WMD in these Spetznaz trucks by Bush and his CIA; contacts between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden in AFRICA in the 90's, etc.).
This book discloses missing facts and is an eye opener.
I truly believe, we are living those last days of age and the second coming is near.
Title does not match content.......2007-02-13
Found it to be filled with more history and statistics than what the title states is in the content of this book. The author threw a curve when he went on a rant about those who believe in the Trinity. I fail to understand how belief, or non-belief, in a triune God is relevant to the topic of end times or biblical prophesy.
Nifty Compact Treatment.......2007-01-29
With mainline churches in America (and elsewhere) unraveling, and conservative religion (of all faiths) on the increase, it is no wonder there would be a corner for a nifty little book like this. Make no mistake, it is a powerhouse of sorts..lots of current information that is not found elsewhere, well-documented, rare facts gleaned (presumably) from Grant's visits to the Middle East, written in a fast, tight style. That is, until 2/3 of the way through the book when he shifts to evangelical theology of end time events, and this continues through the remainder of the book. Evangelical theology in America has many favorite doctrines, several of them in this book (the 144,000 being witnesses in Revelation for example). He preaches a literal end time Temple in Jerusalem (some theologians see the use of "temple" in the New Testament restricted to the church as God's temple, but Grant has Scripture support for his thesis as well). The advantage of this book is it's little known and well-documented facts, current information, and well-written first 2/3 of the book detailing what he sees is coming as a result of the Mid East unrest. It is hard to put down, and due to it's size (176 pps plus supplements) can be read in two days carefully, and should be considered an update of The American Prophecies by Mike Evans. Well worth reading.
Boring.......2007-01-26
I found this book quite boring with a lot of detailed info concerning islam, al qaida, bin Laden and other such things that have very little relevance to an average christian. If you have seen Mr. Jeffrey on Benny Hinn's TV programmes, you have heard all you need to know about this book. I was very disappointed.
Book Description
“Perhaps one day I may forgive you for putting
us under curfew for forty-two days, but I will never forgive you for making us live with my mother-
in-law for what seemed, then, more like
forty-two years.”
Irreverent, darkly funny, unexpected, and very unlike any other writing on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Sharon and My Mother-in-Law describes Palestinian architect Suad Amiry’s experience of living in the Occupied Territories.
Based on diaries and e-mail correspondence that Amiry kept to maintain her sanity from 1981 to 2004, the book evokes, through a series of vignettes, the frustrations, cabin fever, and downright misery of daily life in the West Bank town of Ramallah, with its curfews, roadblocks, house-to-house searches, and violence. Amiry writes about the enormous difficulty of moving from one place to another, the torture of falling in love with someone from another town, the absurdity of her dog receiving a Jerusalem identity card when thousands of Palestinians could not do so, and the impossibility of acquiring a gas mask from the Israeli Civil Administration during the first Gulf War in 1991. There are also the challenges of shopping during curfew breaks, the trials of having her ninety-two-year-old mother-in-law living in her house during a forty-two-day curfew, and thoughts on Israel’s Separation Wall.
With a wickedly sharp ear for dialogue and a keen eye for the most telling details, Amiry gives us an original, ironic, and firsthand glimpse into the absurdity——and agony——of life in the Occupied Territories.
Customer Reviews:
Superb book - you can't put it down........2007-07-04
I read this book within a day, I just couldn't put it down, it was so beautifully written, and so easy to read.
Suad Amiry has a remarkable ability to say in one sentence what other writers take three pages over. A single sentence can be so thought-provoking, you consider all the many implications that follow from just one statement.
Despite the misery of her situation, Suad's defiance of her occupiers is hilarious - what a courageous and spunky woman! Her frankness and honesty of her own feelings, including her failings, are also very impressive.
Well done to Suad Amiry, I eagerly look forward to her next book - I hope she will write one!
arafat and my hot flashes.......2006-12-26
Arafat and my hot flashes - an Israeli response to Suad Amiry's Sharon and my Mother-in-Law.
After reading Suad Amiry's novel Sharon and my mother in law I was extremely moved ... as an Israeli, living in Tel-Aviv at ta time when all around me people were "bursting at the Seams" or merely committing suicide at their leisure while taking other people's lives, limbs, children and women with them, I could identify myself with her agony at not being able to move freely...
It was Saturday eve; I always felt weird on Saturday eve, uneasy. On a verge of a panic attack. Maybe it was to do with the gloom I experienced at home, as a child on Sat. eve (My mother was a BA -graduate of Auschwitz). It was exactly 2 years ago, me and my not-such-a-great-hero, husband, who was an extremely gifted and intelligent man but the biggest coward if there's ever was one, were having a row, after a long week ... I wanted to venture out. Out of doors...out of our building; living in Tel Aviv had become a Russian roulette ... the streets were very quiet and empty ... not a dog in sight, the stray cats had totally disappeared, everyone was waiting for the next one, and we didn't know where it would come from. I wanted to go to the movies.
"Are you out of your mind?!!!" Gideon screamed. I couldn't sit at home anymore I had to go out. To a coffee place, "A coffee place?!!! Now?!!" Only yesterday one of the most popular coffee places in Tel Aviv blew up.
"Ok then, the bar around the corner is always empty! Why would a suicide bomber come there, to kill us and the barman?". I thought that was reasonable enough.
"I don't know why?" argued Gideon back "he might just get fed up half way to the Hilton, did you think about that?".
I tried the movies, again.
"Crowded places?!!! Hello? Anybody home?", pointing at my head.
"but we never had a suicider at the cinema!!", I tried to reason.
"Exactly!!!", exclaimed Gideon with a big smile, winning the argument.
I felt a hot flash coming on. It was August and I just had to have some air. "I don't care!!!", I screamed, "I am going out!!! Now!"
All of a sudden a siren was heard, and another one and another one, a string of sirens always meant a suicide bomber, and the ambulances were rushing to the scene. We looked at each other with terror and turned on the TV. There was a suicide bomber at Michael's Pub, a few minutes away from us. It was my son's favorite hang out; thank God he had been living in Holland for the last few years. He didn't even come home for a visit; I wouldn't let him, my only son...
Gideon, quickly rushed to the phone to ring his three children (from his 2 ex wives) they were all in their twenties ... that was his usual routine, every time a bomber hit the town. Then he would take his clooney (Cloonex - a tranquilizer) I was always angry when he took it, being a practitioner of Chinese medicine, it was totally against my principals. But he couldn't care less. He was slowly becoming addicted to clooney.
We stayed at home glued to the TV watching the horrible scenes of children, women, blood, screaming, etc etc. Gideon began his usual snores beside me, the clooney had knocked him out!
The next day we heard on the news that Palestinians were under curfew ....
There are always three sides to every divorce: the wife, the husband and the truth...
We are having a terrible, endless bloody row: it's time to stop talking about the past. I would expect an educated person like Suad not to live in the past, but to accept our existence in Israel and to start talking from that point. We have no where else to go, and the experience of living as a Jew outside Israel has not been very successful ... I could attach a picture of my mother's green number tattooed on her arm, she is only 74, she was 12 when they took her to the camps, one of the last survivors in the world ... Tell me Suad, the truth: this is not about the occupied territories. Barak begged Arafat to take it back. This is about Jaffa...according to your book. Do you expect my mother to go back to Czechoslovakia? And look for her confiscated home? And what about me? I was born here, am I to take a dive in the sea?
Yours sincerely,
Yael Stern O'Dwyer
Worth reading with some caveats for the uninformed reader.......2006-09-16
I enjoyed reading this book but was chilled at the author's inclusion of "1929" as a year of Palestinian "pride" without mention of the atrocities of the Hebron pogroms. "Text without context is pretext" as the PLO's old friend Jesse Jackson used to remind us. Tom Segev's One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate (which alot of Amazon reviewers think has an anti-Zionist bias) would be a good corrective for the reader new to these issues.
Amiry is not a fanatic or a fundamentalist and this is her P.O.V. and her life. Can she address the moral failures of the Palestinian leadership, beginning with the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and ending in Hamas? Maybe, but this is not that book.
Our hope for peace? We're in trouble.......2006-09-03
I picked up this book at Ben-Gurion airport at a time when I could have used an uncommonly witty look at life under the Occupation, but alas, I found nothing witty or uncommon about Suad Amiry's wonderfully named but lazily written screed -- and if you are a thinking person, you'll find nothing funny about her bigotry.
Some parts rattled me, but it wasn't her so-called reportage, which anyone familiar with the region will recognize as the usual embroidering. I am not saying that life under occupation is not difficult and sometimes brutal. However, my editor's antenna went up more than once. Naturally, Amiry's stories are impossible to verify.
No, it was her attitude throughout the book that unnerved me. For instance, Amiry dismisses out-of-hand the very public military inquiry into reports of looting by Israeli soldiers. And yet she cheerleads without shame for Palestinian thievery, and even opines that Palestinians aren't stealing enough from Jews.
And the child-free Amiry treats us to a charming vignette, her tacit approval ringing loud and clear, of Arab mothers warning their mischievous children: "Behave or the Israeli soldiers will shoot you."
Interestingly, on my flight to Israel, just in time for the Israel-Hizbollah war, I read Amos Oz's new book, an essay, really, called "How to Cure a Fanatic." And one of his cures is humor. If you can laugh at yourself, you are in no danger of becoming a fanatic. Sadly, Amiry can make fun of her neighbors and relatives, and she can indulge in the most racist of rants against Jews, knowing someone will find them funny. But she cannot laugh at herself. I suppose we should be grateful that she left out the hilarious phenomenon of suicide bombers.
In the end, I pitied Amiry -- an obviously unstable middle-aged woman who I suspect would have been unstable even if she had stayed in her native Jordan. If the Israeli occupation hadn't driven her to distraction, something else most assuredly would have. But if you can blame the Occupation for your woes, so much the better. How good and pleasant it is to be a victim. How little responsibility you bear.
Life OVER the Occupation.......2006-07-09
Suad Amiry's book is very witty and easy to read. The book is based on a compilation of emails, letters and Amiry's recollection of the various events. Amiry offers a portrayal of life of a relatively well off Palestinian family under Israeli occupation. The Israeli occupation and the siege of their city feature prominently in the book but almost as natural disasters or "Act of God" ..so they are there thrown into the mix making ordinary complex life even more complicated. The politics of the occupation are touched upon but clearly what is central is just the day to day life.
The title of the book is very much a reflection of the light hearted style of the book but also of the very menacing undertones. In the United States Sharon largely has(d) the reputation of being a tough minded and determined leader and with the Gaza withdrawal in 2005 as a peacemaker; whereas in most of the world outside of the US Sharon is seen as a ruthless cruel man responsible for the death and destruction of many who was sanctioned by his own country and was even wanted for trial on war crime charges in Europe. For the Palestinians I imagine Sharon had simply been a brutal merciless monster; the title Sharon & My Mother in Law with that background is therefore very ironic! A daughter - mother in law relationship in a middle eastern environment is never straight forward ..the very words mother in law carry a whole world of conations. The very title of the book comes across funny to any Middle Eastern; equating or even putting Sharon & mother in law in the same sentence carries with the wit and the determination that comes across in Amiry's words.
Many reviewers of this book talked about the book illustrating the humanity of the Palestinians, I doubt if that has been on Amiry's mind; for those who doubt the humanity of the Palestinians better read John Grisham or watch Pirates of the Caribbean; this book celebrates the humanity of the Palestinians and the triumph of their spirit.
Book Description
Hailed in The New York Times Book Review as "the doyen of Middle Eastern studies," Bernard Lewis has been for half a century one of the West's foremost scholars of Islamic history and culture, the author of over two dozen books, most notably The Arabs in History, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, The Political Language of Islam, and The Muslim Discovery of Europe. Eminent French historian Robert Mantran has written of Lewis's work: "How could one resist being attracted to the books of an author who opens for you the doors of an unknown or misunderstood universe, who leads you within to its innermost domains: religion, ways of thinking, conceptions of power, culture--an author who upsets notions too often fixed, fallacious, or partisan." In Islam and the West, Bernard Lewis brings together in one volume eleven essays that indeed open doors to the innermost domains of Islam. Lewis ranges far and wide in these essays. He includes long pieces, such as his capsule history of the interaction--in war and peace, in commerce and culture--between Europe and its Islamic neighbors, and shorter ones, such as his deft study of the Arabic word watan and what its linguistic history reveals about the introduction of the idea of patriotism from the West. Lewis offers a revealing look at Edward Gibbon's portrait of Muhammad in Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (unlike previous writers, Gibbon saw the rise of Islam not as something separate and isolated, nor as a regrettable aberration from the onward march of the church, but simply as a part of human history); he offers a devastating critique of Edward Said's controversial book, Orientalism; and he gives an account of the impediments to translating from classic Arabic to other languages (the old dictionaries, for one, are packed with scribal errors, misreadings, false analogies, and etymological deductions that pay little attention to the evolution of the language). And he concludes with an astute commentary on the Islamic world today, examining revivalism, fundamentalism, the role of the Shi'a, and the larger question of religious co-existence between Muslims, Christians, and Jews. A matchless guide to the background of Middle East conflicts today, Islam and the West presents the seasoned reflections of an eminent authority on one of the most intriguing and little understood regions in the world.
Customer Reviews:
Islam is nothing to do with West, Like wise, West is nothing to do with Islam.......2007-03-09
All seem that Islam is in conflict with West and vise versa. But the thruth is Muslim Arabs(not Islam) and West has long been rivals, poilitically and economically, since the raise of Islam as a religion in Arabs's land. The conflict is a rather power struggle than a belief in Islam as religion. Unfortunately, since arabs are muslim majority, it seems that the problem lies on the Islam as a religion. This is very dangerous for humankind.
No Matter whatever the writer try to explain. All idea that position Islam a religion, or any other religion, against something, i.e, West, is bad idea.
West agaist Islam.......2006-11-10
One understands the relationship and the conflict between the Christian west and the Islam east. Good study.
Well written and interesting.......2004-12-05
This book is an introduction to the history of Islam's interactions with the West. It begins with an overview of the advances of Muslim armies into Europe and explains that Western voyages of discovery soon led to the West surpassing the Muslim world economically and then militarily. And we see that in the century prior to the end of World War One, the Muslims were in steady retreat against Europeans. Lewis shows how in Western eyes, the Ottoman Empire went from being regarded as wicked and threatening to being mysterious but weak.
That brings up the issue of how Muslims live under non-Muslim rule. And we discover that the major issue is simply whether or not Muslims are free to practice their way of life.
Lewis then brings up the issue of translating Arabic terms. In most cases, translations are not a big problem. But there are some concepts which are not really the same in Arabic as they are in Western languages, such as "state," "freedom," "democracy," or "revolution." The author shows how the meaning of these words relates to Muslim behavior when Muslims have Western allies in wartime.
Perhaps the most interesting section is the one on Orientalism. Here, the author describes the frightful politicization of Middle East studies. Lewis shows how politics, generally antizionist politics, has often substituted for scholarship in this field. In my opinion, this understates the problem. The academic world has to maintain standards to be of value. If these standards are abandoned in one part of history, that will bring down the esteem and value of the entire discipline.
This is a very informative book, and it's easy to read. I highly recommend it.
Disjointed, but some interesting insights.......2004-04-05
Bernard Lewis, of course, is the well-known Princeton professor (emeritus) who emerged, after 9/11, as the principal "interpreter" of the world of Islam for U.S. audiences. In the introduction to this book, he proposes that he will illustrate the way that the worlds of Christendom and Islam view each other. Unfortunately, as noted by the previous reviewers, this is a collection of essays (several of which were previously published) rather than a de novo work, and the individual parts are only variably subordinate to the overarching goal. Despite this limitation, which gives the book a disjointed feel, there are some valuable insights here. The first essay is a very brief review of the history of the interaction between Islam and Christendom, which makes the important point that, for much of the history of that interaction, the European kingdoms were of only peripheral interest to the vastly greater civilization of Islam. Subsequent essays briefly review the history of the Shi'a, and the problems of cross-cultural communication illustrated by the difficulties encountered in attempting translation of Islamic texts. There are effective critiques of the late Edward Said's theory of Orientalism, which claims that the study of non-Western, and particularly Islamic, history by Westerners constitutes cultural imperialism masquerading as historical analysis. But the most useful insight to be gleaned from these essays is the explication of the role that religion plays in the world of Islam, and the contrast between Islamic and non-Islamic views of the proper relation between religion and the State. Although we are slowly becoming more aware of this fundamental difference between our own view of the place of religion in the affairs of man and that of many, perhaps most, in the Islamic world, Lewis manages to make this difference explicitly clear. The insight would be most valuable to those seeking to build new polities in the Middle East.
pretty good comparsion.......2003-05-23
In Islam and the West, Lewis takes a look at the relationship between Islam and the West. The have had conflict for since the early days of Islam. Lewis takes a look at conflicts such as the crusades, the three Muslim invasions of Europe-Moors in the Iberian Peninsula, Ottamans in Eastern Europe and the Tartars in Russia. He also looks at how the Muslim world in North Africa and the Middle East was one time more advanced then the Europe and how the two have reveresed positions.
What Lewis spends a lot of time on is the perceptions of Islam had of the West and the perceptions that the West had on Islam. He looks at each side tried to discredit the other and how each perceivced themselves. Lewis also deals with the rise of political Islam in the 20th century after the end of WWI after the break up of the Ottaman empire.
Overall, a pretty good comprision and hsitory like Lewis's other works.
Book Description
Blankley paints the picture of a Europe in which radical Islam is triumphant--a threat that is not only very real, but that would be more threatening to the United States than a Europe under Nazi domination. But there is hope--and a strategy--for Western survival; and Blankley illustrates what must happen to save the West.
Customer Reviews:
sad, sad case of racist hatered.......2007-08-19
In the '20s a certain person sitting in a prison finished a similar book on an other threat posed by a "homogeneous group of people", and about the clash of civilizations. The book's title was Mein Kampf, and we all know how well that turned out to be.
Fearmongering, ignorance, and downright stupidity -these are the words that can sum up this "work". As it can be seen from the majority of the reviews, it plays very well on the basic fears of the general, ignorant population. Fear of other, strange cultures, brown colored people, and anything different. It's sad that the author did not took it on himself to see what Europe is really like. There's no doubt the largely Muslim immigrant population does have problems integrating into the society - and most of these problems are not their doing. It is very frightening to see that based on some misinterpreted "cultural sensitivity" the school material is cropped in England, so that they don't offend Muslims. But it's hardly a threat to the "West". The reason why the majority of the Third World is pissed off by the West is another thing. Just learn history. Just look it up how Islamic fundamentalism was nurtured by Western governments. It's a monster we have created. It didn't start with 9/11. It started way before that, when Britain and other colonial powers -along with the US- started to force their short-sighted policies on them. It was a good idea to support Bin Laden and his friends against the Russians, right? Saddam was a good pal, too, even though we knew he was gassing people. The list can go on. We screwed up.
One thing to keep in mind: Rome was not destroyed from the outside.
Excellent analysis of Islam threat, but could be stronger on Western response.......2007-07-22
This is a must-read book to give anyone who thinks the Islamofascist terrorist threat is merely a persistent "nuisance" like prostitution (John Kerry) or a "bumper sticker slogan" (John Edwards), or that our response to the threat is so much neoconservative fear-mongering. Blankley convincingly raises the alarm against the West's complacency, political correctness and multiculturalism, especially in Europe, that blind us to the depth of the existential threat and anesthetize us from appropriate levels of response.
But the book is surprisingly upbeat in many instances. For example, Blankley argues that 2005 was a turning point in Europe, especially with the brutal daylight murder of Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam, a Dutch film maker and enfant terrible who offended Muslims with a short movie exposé of the constant cruelty meted out by most Muslims against women, and not just by the crazy jihadists (e.g., "honor" killings, wife beatings, forced marriages, house-bound slavery, genital mutilations of little girls, stonings-to-death for adultery). Blankley sees a silver lining in the French and Dutch rejections at the polls of the proposed EU constitution in 2005, coupled, as most of those votes were, to a rejection of allowing Muslim Turkey to enter the EU. He also predicts there will be more European restrictions on Muslim immigration and deportations of incendiary jihadist imams, predictions that have come true in the UK, Holland and Denmark.
My only reservations about the book (not significant enough to deny it 5 stars) are that Blankley can get a tad politically correct himself when analyzing Islam, and for all his passion about how Islamofascism needs as robust a response as the West gave Nazism and Japanese imperialism, he pulls his punches.
On the subject of endless jihad, he makes the same fundamental, erroneous assumption that many in the commentariat make: that the fundamentalist frontline terrorists are some sort of aberration from mainstream Islam, which is somehow, by contrast, passive and pacific. This is the Big Lie that Muslims have so far been very successful at propagating, with Tony Blankley just another victim. An honest assessment is that the Islamist terrorists' actions are not based on some sort of poison injected into Islam by Whahabbists or the Muslim Brotherhood. Instead, everything they say comes straight from the Koran. They don't have to make any of this stuff up about killing the infidels wherever they may find them, or that even the trees call out for the killing of Jews. It's all right there in the Koran. Mohammad was the Ur-Terrorist, misogynist, and yes, pedophile (a 54-year-old man for whom Allah took a moment out of all Eternity in the Koran to tell Mohammad it was OK for him to marry and bed a 9-year-old girl; for further on this and more, read Ayaan Hirsi Ali's book, Infidel, by a courageous ex-Muslim who exposes the core of Islam for what it is).
On the second point, some proposed Western offensives in this war, Blankley's book ends with some very good, concrete suggestions about how we can be more ruthless and aggressive in fighting Islamic attacks against the West. But if we are truly in an existential war as grave as WWII, and I agree with Blankley that we are, then I wish I had also seen in his book the following recommendations for future action that would be commensurate with the threat:
1. An immediate end to all Saudi funding of jihadist groups, including the madrassas and mosques they build worldwide and fill with extremist imams espousing the most virulent forms of aggression against the West. If necessary, we should engineer a coup d'état that puts the current corrupt princes out of business and replaces them with people of our liking, perhaps a military junta. That could be combined with pre-emptive military action by U.S. troops already in Iraq to occupy the predominantly Shiite eastern part of Saudi Arabia where most of the oilfields are and to take over those oilfields and the revenues from them to help pay for the West's war effort for as long as it takes to win that war. That move would no doubt find favor with Shiite Iraq and Iran to the extent it defangs the major source of the Sunni threat. Analogous moves in the past: the 1954 CIA-led coup in Iran against socialist Mossadegh, and the scuttling of the French fleet in WWII rather than seeing it fall into the hands of the fascist Vichy French; only in this modern version we would use the equivalent of that fleet for our own ends. Saudi Arabia is the Number One Enemy of the West, with Iran coming in second. So far, all the Islamic terrorist acts against the West have been Sunni, and either Saudi-inspired or Saudi-funded.
2. Making a Manhattan Project out of increasing our independence from foreign oil. A start would be to open up ANWAR in Alaska to drilling, as well as a more robust program of exploiting offshore resources; building more refineries and nuclear power plants; and enforcing conservation by increasing taxes on gasoline at the pumps, gas guzzler SUVs, boats and private airplanes, and using that money to fund alternative energy research and exploration. The only way self-indulgent Westerners, especially Americans, are going to stop wasteful energy use is to make it too expensive for them to continue doing so.
3. Institute a "national service" draft. For now - and hopefully into the foreseeable future - the all-volunteer armed forces are all we need or want for national defense and security; having uncooperative or disgruntled draftees in those services could be counter-productive. But if we are really at war - and I agree with Blankley that we are - then the only way to overcome widespread complacency among the public is to make people feel they have a role to play. We have not been asked in the "global war on terror" to make any personal sacrifices; instead, we are told "to go about our business as usual" in order to deny the terrorists their goal of terrorizing us. But why can't all of us be involved in the fight? And with or without terrorism, the goal of national service - however that should take form, e.g. as support help in hospitals or tutors for students with special needs, in the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps, or as civil defense coordinators in times of disasters - is a way for young Americans (and new immigrants) to develop a sense of patriotism. The Germans have universal "national service" conscription - why don't we?
4. We should have learned from Hurricane Katrina that most major U.S. cities are unprepared for disasters. See Ted Koppel's NPR commentary, "Grass-Roots America Isn't Prepared for Catastrophe" at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5597968. If the jihadists use a dirty radioactive weapon or bioterrorism as
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
Londonistan
The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion
The Force of Reason
The Politically Incorrect Guide(tm) to Islam (and the Crusades) (Politically Incorrect Guides)
