Letters to Khatami: A Reply to the Iranian President's Call for a Dialogue Among Civilizations
By Anthony J. Dennis
Wyndham Hall Press, (July 2001)
ISBN: 1556053339
Book Description:
An historic and unprecedented collection of letters replying to Iranian President Mohammad
Khatami's call for "a dialogue among civilizations." Issues addressed include relations between the
Western and Islamic world, the future of U.S.-Iranian relations, the role of religion in public life
and the significance of President Khatami's presidency, among other topics. This diverse collection
contains letters from two former U.S. diplomats held hostage during the 1979-81 Iran Hostage
Crisis, two famous Iranian expatriates, an editor-in-chief of a respected U.S. magazine, an
American lawyer and human rights activist, and two pro-Israeli activists. Read more...
Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism
By Dore Gold
Regnery Publishing; (February 2003)
ISBN: 0895261359
Amazon.com Editorial Review
In the global search for culprits and causes in the rise of terrorism, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold shines a spotlight on a nation many think of as a close ally of the United States: Saudi Arabia. As he explains in Hatred’s Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism, Gold believes that the Saudi government is greatly influenced by the Islamist sect known as Wahhabism and, he explains, that influence has lead to Saudi support of terrorism in the Middle East, Europe, the United States and around the world. The historical portion of Gold’s argument, where he traces the emergence of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and the changing face of Saudi leadership, is admirably extensive and detailed. His modern research is a little more uneven, relying on statements by various Muslim clergy members, letters to the editors of newspapers, opinion pieces, and other evidence that is rarely damnable. Curiously, mentions of Israel and the long-standing Arab-Israeli conflict are much more infrequent than one would expect from an Israeli diplomat and scholar. But regardless of one’s opinion of Gold’s research or his alarming conclusions, the book offers something not often found in modern political nonfiction: a coherent structure, exhaustive research, and a clear and consistent perspective on the ongoing threat of terrorism. --John Moe Read more...
The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa'Ud from Tradition to Terror
By Stephen Schwartz
Doubleday, (October 2002)
ISBN: 0385506929 Read more...
The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror
By Bernard Lewis
Modern Library; (March 2003)
ISBN: 0679642811
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. Read more...
Book Description: Drawing on this thirty years of intensive research on Islam, author shows the vital distinction between the faith of Islam and the ideology of militant Islam. Read more...
American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us
By Steven Emerson
Free Press; (February 2002)
ISBN: 0743233247
Amazon.com Editorial Review
Some have said that the events of September 11 took every American by surprise. That's not true. There were Cassandras among us warning about the dangers of Islamic terrorism--and one of their leaders was Steven Emerson, who must be ranked among the most fearless reporters in the world. As a self-made expert on Islamic terrorism, he has invited the hatred of violent murderers. (At least one group has marked him for assassination; he was offered enrollment in the federal witness protection program, but refused). For more than 10 years, Emerson has soldiered on, studying groups that operate in the United States for the express purpose of funding and managing deadly organizations. American Jihad summarizes what he has learned, and it isn't comforting. Emerson shows how the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas has grown an extensive network in the United States, how the group Islamic Jihad set up shop at the University of South Florida, and how an Islamic center in Tucson helped recruit two of Osama bin Laden's top deputies. He also provides circumstantial evidence that bin Laden himself once applied for an American visa--"even the possibility is tantalizing, and chilling," he concludes. He urges Americans to fight back, but worries that time is short: "We are still vulnerable..." Read more...
Warriors of the Prophet: The Struggle for Islam
By Mark Huband
Westview Press, (September 1998)
ISBN: 0813327806
Amazon.com Editorial Review
What were the
Americans thinking
when they funneled
weapons and money to
the Afghan resistance
during the Soviet
occupation? Thanks to
charismatic Muslim
loyalists like Osama Bin
Laden, Arabs began
pouring into
Afghanistan, which
became, according to
one "Afghan Arab," a
10-year university for
jihad resistance.
Long-time Middle East
news correspondent
Mark Huband tells the
story, noting that when
the Afghan Arabs were
kicked out after the war,
they returned to their
respective homelands to
contribute to radical
Islamist movements.
Hubard isn't sounding
an alarm, though. His
thesis is that so-called
Islamic fundamentalists,
whom he prefers to call
Islamists, have less to
do with religious
imperialism than with
local politics. Read more...
