Book Description
From the best-selling author of Black Hawk Down comes a riveting, definitive chronicle of the Iran hostage crisis, America’s first battle with militant Islam. On November 4, 1979, a group of radical Islamist students, inspired by the revolutionary Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran. They took fifty-two Americans hostage, and kept nearly all of them hostage for 444 days. In Guests of the Ayatollah, Mark Bowden tells this sweeping story through the eyes of the hostages, the soldiers in a new special forces unit sent to free them, their radical, naïve captors, and the diplomats working to end the crisis. Bowden takes us inside the hostages’ cells and inside the Oval Office for meetings with President Carter and his exhausted team. We travel to international capitals where shadowy figures held clandestine negotiations, and to the deserts of Iran, where a courageous, desperate attempt to rescue the hostages exploded into tragic failure. Bowden dedicated five years to this research, including numerous trips to Iran and countless interviews with those involved on both sides. Guests of the Ayatollah is a detailed, brilliantly re-created, and suspenseful account of a crisis that gripped and ultimately changed the world.
Customer Reviews:
The First "War On Terror" (or should have been)........2007-09-28
This book provides an excellent explanation of the crisis, which partly cost Jimmy Carter the election and where America should have conducted its first "War On Terror" (perhaps, that would have dealt with the current "president" of Iran and the others with him sooner, rather than later, and he wouldn't have come to the U.S.). True, the U.S. shouldn't have let the Shah in, but it wasn't right for the "students", including the current "president" of Iran to take people hostage. I applaud all those who stood up to these thugs, and Bowden gives great detail. He also provides excellent notes and descriptions of what happened to the hostages, after their release. I have my own thoughts about what should have happened, after our people arrived safely in the U.S., but I won't go into them here. Suffice it to say that if anyone wants to understand why we are having the troubles we are with Iran, read this. I wouldn't have wanted to have been in former President Carter's position. I think it was a betrayal, after what the hostages went through, that the U.S., in the succeeding administration, did "deals" with these people, and admitting this "terrorist thug" [Ahmenejad] into our country recently; a former hostage taker, but this is an example how our political system works. [Sometimes, we're our own worst enemy.] Anyway, an important book.
War on Terror.......2007-09-20
The author is correct in his use of the term "inapt" for the phrase "war on terror." It was indeed inapt prior to 9/11 and certainly was not in use in 1979. But it's appropriate use since 9/11 means that finally after nearly 30 years we are taking the threat seriously and have finally begun to wage this necessary war.
Good book, heavily biased.......2007-09-14
An excellent blow by blow account of the Iranian hostage crisis. Bowden's bias knocks a star off. He basically sides with the hostage takers--describing them as just a bunch of goofy misguided kids engaged in mere horseplay. The hostages weren't tortued and beaten that bad, and plus they "mistakenly" referred to their captors as "ragheads." How ignorant! Perhaps Bowden thinks they should have stayed there a little longer just to make up for such transgressions?
In an attempt to make Jimmy Carter look competent, he wisely spends little time on the President's futile attempts to resolve the crisis--keeping the focus on the hostages themselves. But it's still a factual account--and the facts don't lie; Carter was a horrible negotiator. It was only a year into the crisis he figured out what "contingency" meant. Bowden's sly parallel of Ronald Reagan with the Ayatollah at the end of the book is also not lost.
Well-written and thought-provoking.......2007-09-06
What more could there be to say about a crisis that happened a quarter century ago? As it turns out, there are some very important things to say about it, and Mark Bowden's masterful history of that crisis says them.
First, this is an absolutely first-rate "you are there" account of what the American hostages went through as Iran descended into chaos and near madness after the ouster of the shah. You will literally feel their anger, fear, and depression, and you will feel their pride when they can defy or denigrate their captors, even fleetingly. However, you will feel the smugness and religious certainty of their captors, too. Make no mistake: Bowden clearly sees the American diplomats as victims of an outrageous act; there is no moral relativity here.
Second, the book is thought-provoking in ways I didn't expect. The ostensible trigger for the crisis was the decision by the US to admit the shah to this country for treatment of the cancer that would eventually kill him. However, that decision was sold to President Carter by his Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, who in turn was sold on it by Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller. As the years roll on, it's interesting how many disastrous US foreign policy decisions come back to Kissinger.
Further, the CIA was no better then at understanding and predicting events in the Islamic world than they are now. Shortly before the crisis erupted, the agency reported that the religious radicals would soon be relegated to the background there, so the US could deal with an emerging secular state with confidence. In reality, the country degenerated into a hurricane of religious nuttiness that soon swept aside all of the secular leaders. Quite literally, no one at all was really in charge of anything in Iran, and that's the reason the crisis dragged on for over a year.
This brings us to the role of President Carter. Nearly everyone felt at the time that he was too weak and vacillating to resolve the crisis. Not so; he tirelessly attempted to find a way to deal with the situation, but every attempt failed when the connection at the Iranian end fell apart. No one could have done much more, which is why presidential candidate Ronald Reagan continually criticized Carter, but never offered a word of explanation about what he would do.
The failed rescue attempt was blamed on Carter, too, but as Bowden makes clear, it had little chance of succeeding, mostly because the equipment available at the time was inadequate, and the situation was impossible. Even if Delta Force had made it to Tehran, it's likely that most or all of the hostages and rescuers would have died in the operation. Carter and the troops deserve credit for daring the attempt, even in the face of near-certain failure.
This book is must reading as the authoritative account of the first battle in the war with the "Islamofascists." And it's worth reading as a rich account of the courage that the hostages and their would-be rescuers displayed in very trying circumstances.
Excellent telling of the Iran Hostage Crisis.......2007-07-10
For those interested in history and especially the history of the relationship between Iran and the U.S., this book is essential. This book is well written, fine storytelling, and appropriately detailed without belaboring the point. Probably the best one source history of the hostage crisis. Some may find it a little too charitable to President Carter, but it appears to be a fair portrayal.
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.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
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ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
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
Virtually every contemporary Western leader has expressed the view that Islam is a peaceful religion and that those who commit violence in its name are fanatics who misinterpret its tenets. This widely circulated claim is false.
Relying primarily on Islam's own sources, Religion of Peace? Islam's War Against the World demonstrates that Islam is a violent, expansionary ideology that seeks the subjugation and destruction of other faiths, cultures, and systems of government. Further, it shows that the jihadis that Westerners have been indoctrinated to believe are extremists, are actually in the mainstream.
"A fascinating thesis." - William F. Buckley Jr. Founder, National Review
"A valuable, well-argued contribution to the public understanding of Islam...it manages to convey in a short space what the West needs to know about Islam: that its violent aspects are not the result of deviance but of orthodoxy"' - Robert Spencer, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and The Crusades)
"A very important work at a very important time. Anyone interested in understanding the growing violence on the world scene today must read this book. Its message for America and the West is, `Wake up before it's too late.'" - Gary Bauer, President, American Values
"This book provides a timely reality check to those still inclined to believe in the dichotomy between a "real" Islam and its allegedly aberrant violent fringe. That delusion costs lives and threatens the very existence of those affected by it. The refusal of the elite class to open its eyes to reality and protect Western nations from the threat is the biggest betrayal in history. It reflects a problem of cultural and spiritual decay that is the synthesis of all others." - Serge Trifkovic,The Sword of the Prophet and Defeating Jihad
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read for Anyone Interested in Islam.......2007-10-01
A true eye-opener. Many people are aware that, for Islam, the only acceptable form of government is a theocracy. That is, one in which religion dictates the laws. What few people realize, is that Islam has not abandoned its expansionist philosophy of the seventh century. It has simply lacked the means to further that expansion, until recently.
Yes, one can find verses in the Our'an which speak of peace with the other "peoples of the book", that to say, Jews and Christians. However, these verses date from the beginning of Islam, when it was struggling to
exist. Once Islam became well established in Arabia, the verses of the Qur'an instruct Muslims to make war on the unbelievers, and to spread the religion by force.
As the Qur'an is the word of God, it can never be changed. However, verses can be abrogated (made void), by later verses, although all of the
verses, both void and current, remain in the text of the Qur'an. Today's Islamist terrorists are but practicing the mandates of the seventh century
Islam, in accordanc with the dictates of the Qur'an. Their goal is to conquer the entire planet for Islam. The extablishment of an Islamic hegemony.
Excellent Book.......2007-09-04
This is quite simply an excellent book. It is clear, concise, and includes the sources from which the information is derived. I have read many books on the subject of Islam and its political impact on the world today. This book tackles this complex subject with amazing clarity. The book does not read as a polemic or an anti-Islam screed. It simply analyzes the religion as a philosophy and a political movement from the sources which are most revered by Muslims themselves.
If you are trying to understand the ramifications of this religion and its implications for both believers and non-believers this is an important work. The work may be frightening to Westerners, but that is because of the religion itself and not because of some bias of the author.
Learn the meaning of "abrogation" as it is practiced within the qu'ran.......2007-08-14
One of the most helpful aspects of this work by Gregory Davis is his careful explanation of the concept of abrogation. That is, how the passages of the Qu'ran written later take precedence over those written earlier. For example, the Sura that says "there is no compulsion in religion" was abrogated by one written much later that completely nullified the gentler, more "peaceful" one so often quoted by politicians, muslim apologists, and other idiots. Apparently, even many muslims don't have a clue about this--or else they're being deliberately deceptive. I suspect the latter to be the case. Davis explains this and demonstrates how it is used/ignored to benefit islam. He also explains their endorsement of lying in order to gain advantage over their enemies. All the evil of islam is bound and rooted in muhammed himself. Davis makes this crystal clear. Bravo! Davis, for such a bold piece.
A Teen's Perspective of the Book (my son, age 15).......2007-06-23
Book Review, by Giorgio, age 15
RELIGION OF PEACE? Islam's War Against the World, By Gregory M. Davis
The reader of _Religion of Peace? Islam's War against the World_, by Gregory M. Davis, might benefit by first viewing the documentary, "Islam, What the West Needs to Know." Usually one would read a book first, but in this case the documentary, which is also produced and directed by Davis, updates the reader about the status of Islam and what is happening in the modern era. _Islam's War Against the World_ fills in all the gaps that a reader would need to know in order to understand the author's message about Islam.
_Islam's War Against the World_ does provide the reader with facts and information that one cannot find easily. I myself have used other sources to find out about the history of Islam, but it is difficult to find the information as detailed. For example, not too many sources will tell you that during the attacks on 9/11, Muslims around the world shouted "Allah Akbar," meaning "God is great." Whenever Jihadists attack or have a victory, they shout these words.
The author covers topics such as the history of Muhammad, The Koran, Sunnah, and much more. I have never read so much information about Mohammad, nor could I have imagined that he would have killed so many people.
Most readers want to know if an author is telling the truth. You can trust this author because he has studied the Koran and he has used multiple sources. One of the significant sources is a former Jihadist.
It is my opinion, based on what Davis writes, that it may be too late to keep Europe from being overthrown by the Muslims. For example, when I went to Athens I saw more Muslims than Greeks. The problem with Europeans is that they are very secular and they believe that they do not need to have children. But the Muslims, on the other hand, often have huge families with many children. This is what is currently happening all over Europe.
If the Muslims were able to populate Europe and America and elect a Muslim leader, then they could possibly repeat what they have done in the past, which is unite and then force the world to either convert or die. In the ancient times when Mohammad sent letters to the rulers of the Persian and Byzantine empires, saying to convert or die, eventually Ethiopia gave in to the Muslins and joined them, but the Persian and Byzantines emperors refused. Eventually, as history shows, the Persian and Byzantine empires were taken over by Muslims. In those days, the Muslim population was small, with an army of only 10,000 soldiers, and no one believed that they could overthrow the Persians and Byzantines.
In conclusion, I believe that everyone should read this book because it teaches so much. It is like waking up from a deep sleep. --GT, June 21, 2007
A necessary read.......2007-05-21
Don't listen to the drive by media or anyone for that matter who does not take the time to do research on this.
It is too important understanding just what Islam is, was and always will be.
Thank you Mr. Davis. This is my fifth reading on Islam and all say the same thing.
Wake up folks, do your homework.
Product Description
`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the “Antiquity” and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by “Pope Gregory Hildebrand” was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.
Customer Reviews:
Check and see.......2007-06-21
I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.
Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22
Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.
Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05
We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:
a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;
b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;
c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.
Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:
It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.
- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.
- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.
Fomenko goes by the following axioms:
- Chronology is the basis of history;
- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;
- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;
- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;
- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;
- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.
Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?
The Russians:
Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.
The Westerners:
Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.
The Chinese:
Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.
The Arabs:
Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.
The Divinity:
Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.
According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.
St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."
Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09
After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.
However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:
- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.
I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.
The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.
It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?
Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.
Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30
If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?
Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.
Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..
Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.
Amazon.com
As soon as you hear the conceit of this book--that there are two great opposing forces at work in the world today, border-crossing capitalism and splintering factionalism, and that they are the two biggest threats to democracy--you know it rings true enough to be worth reading. Although capitalism could have only grown to current levels in the soil of democracies, Benjamin Barber argues that global capitalism now tends to work against the very concept of citizenship, of people thinking for themselves and with their neighbors. Too often now, how we think is the product of a transnational corporation (increasingly, a media corporation) with headquarters elsewhere. And although self-determination is one of the most fundamental of democratic principles, unchecked it has lead to a tribalism (think Bosnia, think Rwanda) in which virtually no one besides the local power elite gets a fair shake. The antidote, Barber concludes, is to work everywhere to resuscitate the non-governmental, non-business spaces in life--he calls them "civic spaces" (such as the village green, voluntary associations of every sort, churches, community schools)--where true citizenship thrives.
Book Description
"An important new book."
--Newsweek
"Mr. Barber is. . . the first to put Jihad and McWorld together in an inescapable
dialectic . . . . [It] stands as a bold invitation to debate the broad contours and future of society."
--Barbara Ehrenreich
The New York Times Book Review
"COMPELLING. . . IMPRESSIVE. . . A thorough, engaging look at the current state of world affairs."
--The American Reporter
Jihad vs. McWorld is a groundbreaking work, an elegant and illuminating analysis of the central conflict of our times: consumerist capitalism versus religious and tribal fundamentalism. These diametrically opposed but strangely intertwined forces are tearing apart--and bringing together--the world as we know it, undermining democracy and the nation-state on which it depends. On the one hand, consumer capitalism on the global level is rapidly dissolving the social and economic barriers between nations, transforming the world's diverse populations into a blandly uniform market. On the other hand, ethnic, religious, and racial hatreds are fragmenting the political landscape into smaller and smaller tribal units. Jihad vs. McWorld is the term that distinguished writer and political scientist Benjamin R. Barber has coined to describe the powerful and paradoxical interdependence of these forces. In this important new book, he explores the alarming repercussions of this potent dialectic for democracy.
A work of persuasive originality and penetrating insight, Jihad vs. McWorld holds up a sharp, clear lens to the dangerous chaos of the post-Cold War world. Critics and political leaders have already heralded Benjamin R. Barber's work for its bold vision and moral courage. Jihad vs. McWorld is an essential text for anyone who wants to understand our troubled present and the crisis threatening our future.
"CHALLENGING AND INSTRUCTIVE."
--San Francisco Chronicle
"BARBER IS WELL WORTH READING. . . FOR AN INTRODUCTION TO THE REAL WORLD, LOOK AT JIHAD vs. McWORLD."
--The Nation
"STIMULATING, TARTLY WRITTEN."
--Publishers Weekly
Customer Reviews:
interesting, but a little preachy.......2007-06-30
First of all, the cover art has been changed. Originally, it was a relatively prosaic cover, full of logos of religious symbols, corporate logos, and military equipment. The picture of the burka-clad lady sipping a Pepsi was undoubtedbly added after 9/11, to capitalize on world events. But the text has not been changed or revised, as far as I can tell....
On to the content. Almost half of the book is taken up by a description of "McWorld" (i.e. the multinational, comsumerist culture that would have us all drinking a Coke, going to McDonalds, wearing Nikes, etc., possibly to the detriment of local culture). Nothing I haven't really heard or read before.
Next, the author tries to describe "Jihad". (As an aside, although I am not a Muslim, I do know that Jihad is a specific Islamic term roughly meaning "struggle", but actually meaning different kinds of struggles, of which the violence that we hear about in the West is only one). In the book, the term "Jihad" is used to mean any opposition to "McWorld", or perhaps modernity or other cultures in general. I'm not sure that's appropriate; maybe another term, such as "neotribalism" (which actually is used in a few places in the book) might be more useful? Only a relatively short chapter talks about religion at all; it mostly tries to compare the Christian right (and far-right) in the US with the Islamic extremists.
A couple of chapters go over the "failure" of post-Communist Russia and East Germany; another describes the effects of "McWorld" on China and Japan. Also described in several places is the intersection of "McWorld" and "Jihad"; as "Jihadists" use the products and technologies of "McWorld" ,not only to propagate their ideas, but also as products for everyday living. (Maybe the new cover with the burka-wearing woman enjoying a Pepsi is more appropriate than I thought at first!)
According to the book, neither "McWorld" nor "Jihad" is a replacement for democracy. There are a number of social goals that are not met by either. Further, the current system of nation-states is no match for the power of the multinational companies; some sort of supra-national, global, democratic institution with power comparable to that of multinational capitalism. (Actually getting to that point, however, would require imposing democratic ideals on countries and communities that are now decidedly anti-democratic--this is not a task done overnight).
What I didn't like is that the book overestimates the power of "McWorld", portraying the multinational corporations worrying that some third-world kid is drinking tea rather than a Coke. Like all stereotypes, there is a kernel of truth in it, but that doesn't make it any less of a stereotype. The author plays favorites; the word "jihad" appears nowhere in the several pages on Hollywood domination of the movie industry in France; yet, right-wing American evangelicals, (rightly or wrongly) questioning changing societal values get dumped on the "Jihad" heap with the neo-Nazis and Islamic terrorists. The FCC gets dinged for not forcing a radio station for keeping its classical format (although setting formats wasn't, and isn't, a function of the FCC to begin with). And so on.
Then there's the out-and-out fingerwagging; the aside on (American) slavery seems to lacks any real tie-in to the theme of "McWorld and Jihad", but more like the author coming out and telling us how we should think. This is true to a lesser extent of the "Bowling Alone"-type material in the "Global Democracy" chapter. (It's a big step from leaving one's comfortable suburban home and joining a bowling league with one's fellow suburbanites, and forming a global government with people halfway around the world who believe in who-knows-what!)
There are also a number of lists; media mergers and top films (relevant, since it shows the domination of multinational over local media) and energy use per country (less so, since equality of energy usage could theoretically be imposed by a non-democratic global system as well as by a democratic one).
To his credit, the author doesn't present "McWorld" as an evil conspiracy, but more like a natural market force that really ought to be checked by some theoretical one-world government. The "Jihad" side, however, is more of a minefield of the author's personal biases and "Things-That-Must-Be-Defended/Derided-At-All Costs".
The unity between religious fundamentalists and big business elites EXPOSED !.......2006-06-23
It's amazing how despite all the tragedies and wars, big business elitists are able to cash in on the damage while religious fundamentalists never get caught, much less held accountable. The idiots who show their hate of this book are from terrorist nations that have a knack of socializing poverty and terrorism while at the same time privatizing wealth. Despite all the big talk about winning the so-called war on terrorism, the ugly truth is wars have not taught us anything. If it weren't for Big Business funding Hitler, Hitler would have had a harder time killing the Jews. Sadly though, even after World War II ended, the Big Business elites that funded and continue to fund dictatorships like Hitler, Stalin, and the modern ones are not only not held accountable but often end up walking away as "heroes". If we're really going to win the war on terrorism and/or poverty, we're going to have to stop supporting big business elite and stop allowing our uber-corrupt politicians from exploiting peoples fears on terrorism even while maximizing poverty.
An Important but Very Flawed Work on Socio-Economics.......2006-04-03
I tried to embrace this book--I really did. It was tempting to want to have at last found a piece of academic writing that deftly encapsulates and explains this clash of titans: jihad and globalism. Barber's main title is, however, more tantalizing than explanatory. This book demonstrates the dangers of allegiance to dichotomies; there are other forces at work in society that grapple with the headline-stealing titans.
This is an important book at least insofar as it captures a growing sentiment among academics interested in the socio-economic forces that compel current events. It is not, therefore, an easy read for the layman (particularly the last part of the book) which is ironic given his call to grassroots citizen action.
Barber asserts--really insists with an uncomfortable brand of academic arrogance--in almost narrowly political overtones that the world is immersed in a battle of opposing ideologies: the corporate, amoral and homogenized one that really is without ideology and the local, or tribal, and rigidly moral and fragmented one that is part ideology, part myth-making.
Unfortunately, in his earnestness to construct and defend his convenient dichotomy, he conforms exceptions to his rule. The jihadists--whether ethnic hatemongers or terrorists--have for Barber retained some residue of moral dignity while the globalist--whether gullible, materialistic and indifferent consumers or manipulative, multinational executives--have altogether lost their moral compass.
His solution (which he fails to outline, thus making his work more of a polemic and manifesto rather than manual for change) is an activist citizenry fully appreciative of their need and ability to shore up the civil sector of modern societies. Here again Barber is remiss, revealing that writing from one's desk rather than the field has its limitations. He fails to acknowledge, for example, the extent to which the lack of a civic tradition in such nations as Russia and China impedes social progress of the sort he pines for. And the following further indicates his lack of awareness of Chinese cultural resiliency: "What is striking is that even here where a native culture might be thought to have its greatest chances against the children of the Western Enlightenment, McWorld seems irresistible."(190)
Aside from this concern, and his lack of concrete solutions and elusive, often inaccessible writing style, Barber tends to exaggerate the extent to which corporate influence is mitigated by both government and civic organizations, especially in the Western democracies. He is undeservedly far too pessimistic in this regard and fails to note the many ways in which a bygone American lacked a collective sense of civic duty. Moreover, his analysis is flawed, as I believe you will also discover, by his apparent aspirations to global citizenship. Nor, as other reviewers have noted, has he given due credit to the government and business sectors in creating a climate for a civic society to exist, must less flourish with some degree of autonomy. The symbolic assault on McDonald's is both tedious and unfair. While guilty of promoting unhealthy diets to some extent, it is a zealous stretch to accuse this and other multinationals of single handedly distorting the cultural landscape of developing nations. And even in the U.S., McDonald's has played a civic role via the Ronald McDonald House, it's management hiring practices and provisions for inner-city employment.
This book, perhaps like this review, could have been thought out more and condensed considerably. For a far better articulated review of this book see Gary Rosen's piece online from the journal First Things.
Provactative but lacking in substance........2006-03-10
I read Barber's book in 1995, shortly after my return from my dissertation research in Indonesia. I was dismayed but what were clear errors in Barber's treatment of Indonesia. He talks about the marketing succes of Coke to sell the sweet syrupy beverage as a substitute to the more "native" tea. What he fails to see is for many if not most ethnic groups of Indonesia tea is served very sweet -- with what I hyperbolically refer to as "equal parts sugar and water." He also bemoan Indonesians taking up blue jeans in favor of saris. Saris? I know of no Indonesians who wear saris -- this is a garment better associated with India. Ok, I know these are perhaps trifiling errors. However, Barbers evidence is composed exclusively of little vignettes and reference like this. I do not know of the accuracy of his specific examples for other countries. However, if the problem he has with understanding the basic facts of Indonesian culture are replicated through all his examples, the argument he tries to support by them must be suspect.
That said, I found the book intriguing. I find the proposition that either the world will become a huge pave parking lot full of McDonald's Hard Rock Cafe's, and discos pumping MTV or it will be torn apart by attempts to assert local identity ludicrous. This idea of Barber's inspired me to write an article specificaly examine McDonald's in the Indonesian cultural landscape. In many important ways, McDonald's Indonesia is more Indonesian than it is anything else. And, it actively seeks to be so.
It came out shortly after the time I had Samual Huntington's Foreign Affairs article "The Clash of Civilizations" pointed out to me by my Indonesian Muslim interlocutors. I find Barber's argument interesting in regard to the Clash of Civilizations debate. Barber does not deal with either Bernard Lewis (who coined "Clash of Civilizations" or Huntington (who popularized it). However, I find in his work, the important corrective that the clash is not limited to Muslims but to all efforts to oppose global capitalism by emphasizing local identity. Also to the degree that there is such a clash, Barber's book can supply an understanding of its mechanism. Again, this was not Barber's point, but it can be drawn from his book.
With my critiques of this book, you might think that I discarded it shortly after reading it. I still have my original copy. I think that the book will make the reader think and if readers actually do that rather than accept it as gospel, then the book is very much worth the read. In fact, I will be assigning it as a test in course I will teach in the Fall of 2006.
Ron Lukens-Bull, PhD
Associate Professor of Anthropology
University of North Florida
McJihad vs. Reality.......2006-02-09
This book is inexplicably influential, probably due to its catchy but ultimately meaningless title. Barber fails to convincingly analyze an interesting thesis, instead delivering an exasperating 300 page-long list of every single thing on Earth that he disagrees with. Barber contends that natural human political behavior results in smaller and smaller ethnic enclaves trying to separate themselves from the larger world, while unchecked global capitalism is erasing ethnic flavor with bowdlerized mass-culture sameness. Interestingly, Barber contends that these two contrary movements are actually in an unholy alliance, using each other's excesses as excuses for their anti-democratic behavior. That is a fascinating thesis, which makes the weaknesses of this book all the more infuriating.
The first part of the book is an interminable tirade of lists within lists, of cultural trends that Barber disdains, in an avalanche of complaints that is not analytical but merely selective and arbitrary. It's all tied together with attempts at "edgy" pop culture references, made-up terminology (like the annoying "infotainment telesector"), and pseudo-intellectual quotations and namedropping. All is lumped together unconvincingly under the anemic term "McWorld," which is so vague and all-inclusive as to become meaningless. In his never-ending examples of how recent cultural trends are damaging the freedom and intelligence of the masses, Barber merely comes across as a condescending snob who thinks his own interests are superior, or a curmudgeon who thinks everything was better back in the good old days, or both. In the second part of the book, Barber proceeds to throw obtuse political science theories at various world hotspots, in which tribalism and separatism are damaging the integrity of nation-states. His umbrella term for this phenomenon is the dangerously loaded term "Jihad." Note that this book was published back in 1995, so that word was not as prevalent in Western discourse as it is now, but Barber still uses the term as a loose descriptor which is likely to offend both devout Muslims and ardent anti-Islamists.
When it comes to the specifics, many reviews here and elsewhere list out the numerous flaws in Barber's arguments, and there are so many of them that a lot of reviews are necessary for the task. You can agree or disagree with various critiques of Barber's contentions based on your own personal politics. But everyone will probably conclude that in this book's final section he does not deliver on the ironic implications of his initially intriguing thesis (embodied in the book's title), and simply forwards borrowed theories on civil society and the public sector. Overall, this book is mostly the longwinded grumblings of a nostalgic know-it-all who portentously predicts doom for every single cultural and political reality of the modern world. [~doomsdayer520~]
Amazon.com
In the aftermath of September 11, as Americans tried to figure out what they were up against, many of them turned to Ahmed Rashid's masterful book Taliban, the single best account of Afghanistan's murderous regime. With Jihad, Rashid offers an indispensable companion volume on five of Afghanistan's neighbors--Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan--and "the New Great Game" about to be waged over them between China, Russia, and the United States. "The vast, empty landscape dotted with oases of vibrant populations and political ferment, sitting on the world's last great untapped natural energy reserves, is almost as unknown to Westerners as it was to Europeans in the Middle Ages," writes Rashid, a Pakistani journalist with extensive experience reporting from the region. He describes the area's "growing instability," which he credits to a strain of militant Islam just like the form propagated by the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. One of the most interesting parts of Jihad concerns Juma Namangani, a shadowy rebel leader in Uzbekistan who has "cultivated an air of mystery that [is] even more extreme than that of the secretive [Taliban leader] Mullah Omar." Rashid concludes that radical Islam will remain popular in Central Asia as long as the governments there are oppressive. We ignore this part of the world at our peril, and there is no better guide to it than Rashid. --John Miller
Book Description
Ahmed Rashid, whose masterful account of Afghanistan's Taliban regime became required reading after September 11, turns his legendary skills as an investigative journalist to five adjacent Central Asian Republics-Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan-where religious repression, political corruption, and extreme poverty have created a fertile climate for militant Islam. Based on groundbreaking research and numerous interviews, Rashid explains the roots of fundamentalist rage in Central Asia, describes the goals and activities of its militant organizations, including Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, and suggests ways of neutralizing the threat and bringing stability to the troubled region. A timely and pertinent work, Jihad is essential reading for anyone who seeks to gain a better understanding of a region we overlook at our peril.
Customer Reviews:
The root of civilization's problem........2007-05-13
This book is the most comprehensive source of information concerning Islam & Terrorism.
Problem for Central Asia.......2007-05-13
The book is tedious, but comprehensive and does explain a lot that has been said about the region. It offers confirmation of many statements about the region, usually those offered without reference. Recommended for anyone interested in "Fundalmentalist Islam" and/or the politics of the former Soviet Uniion.
Valuable and Important Book.......2007-02-23
Jihad by Ahmed Rashid provides an explanation for the rise of militant Islam in Central Asia. I purchased this book because I enjoyed another of Rashid's works, Taliban, and because it was on sale. Within the first few pages, the significance of Rashid's book is obvious. For one, the author is an objective journalist (that term should be redundant but, sadly, it isn't) with first-hand experience in the region. And, more importantly, Jihad was largely written before 11 September 2001, before our national interest in religious extremism became colored by emotion and an agenda to support USA military efforts in the Middle East.
As argued by Rashid, the seeds of today's radical Islamic movement in Central Asia were planted by Stalin. The present borders of those republics -- Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan -- were drawn by that dictator explicitly to fragment ethnic allegiances, to try and force the local populations to become homogenized (but 2nd class) members of the Soviet empire. Collectivization caused further resentment, as did Bolshevik suppression of Islam. But all the latter accomplished was to push religious practice underground and give the people a rallying point to come together against the government.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, leaving former Communist Party members as presidents of the five republics, the equilibrium changed. The government was still unpopular and oppressive, and Islam was still officially to be suppressed, but the governments had lost their power to achieve their objectives. With the repeal of Soviet control came the withdrawal of Soviet forces and resources. Militant Islamic groups, suddenly free(r) to seek their own agendas, rose up to divide and topple the reigning, impotent regimes. Rashid works systematically through various movements in the region and their histories, but he pays special attention to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and its connection with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Jihad by Ahmed Rashid is a valuable and important book for anyone that wants to understand how the rise of militant Islam is not a new phenomenon but a continuation -- an effect -- of the Cold War.
Jihad: Book Review.......2007-02-06
Mr Rashid does a great job introducing this region to a reader who is only familiar with this area through the news reports. Central Asia covers an area nearly the size of the contiguous USA west of the Mississippi excluding Texas. Kazakhstan to the north comprises about 2/3s of this area. The remaining four "Stans" are squeezed between the Caspian Sea to the west with its vast oil reserves, China to the east and Iran and Afghanistan to the south.
Within these chapters is an adequate, short, understandable introduction to the history of the area from the Mongol invasions through their subjugation by the communists. You are introduced to the geography and the political boundaries, which were drawn by Stalin, and the state of affairs in each country between the downfall of the USSR and 2001. You learn that communist style dictators rule all but one of these countries and all the countries are both repressed and impoverished.
The meat of the story seems to begin with the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and the USA's efforts to thwart that assault. Our work with the resistance fighters through Pakisitan brought the outside world into central Asia for the first time in 60 years. With the defeat of the USSR in Afghanistan and the USSR's collapse, these countries were plunged unprepared into the modern world. The continuing repressive natures of their governments coupled with the arrival of fanatical Muslim missionaries soon lead to the birth of several Islamic fundamentalist organizations.
The Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP), Hizb ut Tahir (HT) and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) are the main focus of most of the book. Each of these organizations aims at overthrowing the current governments in the area and replacing them with some form of repressive Islamic state; however, none of the groups is particularly clear on what that would be. I think that Mr. Rashid does a very good job at portraying these organizations as destructive, reactionary groups with no plan for the world after they win.
Finally, the strategic concerns of Russia, China and the USA are dealt with and how they relate to Central Asia. I would like to point out to future readers that whenever the USA's influence in the region is mentioned America is indicted because its military and economic aide is not tied to political reform; regional leaders are just encouraged to reform. However, no such concern is ever once raised by Mr. Rashid when he discusses the influence and aide of Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, any European Country or any other player in Central Asia. Also, not once in the book is there ever any discussion of the responsibility that the residents of each of the "Stans" have for the maintenance and good government of their own lands.
All in all this is a well written and worthwhile book. It covers the subject area briefly, but well. I came away from this book with a much better understanding of this region, its problems and what we will be facing for many years to come.
Unbiased and Informative.......2006-11-24
Usually any book dealing with any aspect of Islam or other religions is either blatantly biased for or against that religion. Rashid manages to pull the attribution of all things to religion out of discussing Central Asia. He effectively demonstrates the impact of political economy and historical features on the regions lack of stability. Then he shows how religion--in this case Islam--aligns with these historical trends and impacts the country. The part I really appreciate about this book is how he resolves all these aspects into the "bigger picture" of how it affects Central Asia. Reading this book will also enable you to see how social movements occur transnationally in a smaller region (Central Asia comprises 5 countries). Very timely for today's events.
Book Description
Writing in 1991, the late French theologian and philosopher Jacques Ellul observed,
"In a major encyclopedia, one reads phrases such as: `Islam expanded in the eighth or ninth centuries…'; `This or that country passed into Muslim hands …' But care is taken not to say how Islam expanded …. Regarding this expansion, little is said about jihad. And yet it all happened through war!"
The Legacy of Jihad provides a comprehensive, meticulously documented corrective to the genre of ahistorical assessments decried by Ellul. This unique, extensive compilation includes Muslim theological and juridical texts, eyewitness historical accounts by both Muslim and non-Muslim chroniclers, and essays by preeminent scholars analyzing jihad war and the ruling conditions imposed upon the non-Muslim peoples conquered by jihad campaigns. The Legacy of Jihad reveals how, for well over a millennium, across three continents—Asia, Africa, and Europe—non-Muslims who were vanquished by jihad wars, became forced tributaries (called dhimmi in Arabic), in lieu of being slain. Under the dhimmi religious caste system, non-Muslims were subjected to legal and financial oppression, as well as social isolation. Extensive primary and secondary source materials, many translated here for the first time into English, are presented, making clear that jihad conquests were brutal, imperialist advances, which spurred waves of Muslims to expropriate a vast expanse of lands and subdue millions of indigenous peoples. Finally, the book examines how jihad war, as a permanent and uniquely Islamic institution, ultimately regulates the relations of Muslims with non-Muslims to this day. Scholars, educators, and interested lay readers will find this collection an invaluable resource.
Customer Reviews:
It's a Scary (Islamic) World.......2007-08-09
I have no intention of reading this cover to cover, as this is quite a tome. The idea that "jihad" is simply a spiritual "striving" seemed like whitewash, and this confirms it. Plenty of energy has gone into diving in the medieval records, and other periods, through centuries of Islamic jurisprudence and commentary in fact. I cannot, however, countenance the reliance upon fanatical personalities like Khomeini and Qutb. There's a large burden of proof that these are representative of mainstream Islamic opinion, I think. Then again I have not done the work Bostom has. The final judgment needs to wait.
Accurate account of cruelties inflicted by islam.......2007-08-07
This is a stupendous, monumental effort that chronicles the horrors perpetrated on nearly the whole world because of the the intolerance preached by Islam.
The reader gets a convincing picture that Islamic fundamentalism is a problem because the fundamentals of Islam are a problem. There is no solution to this problem except by educating the muslim mind, which could take several centuries.
It is very unfortunate that Muslims believe that-or at least have to pretend to believe-the numerous contradictions and the exortions to violence that are contained in the Koran are the actual words of God. The God of the Koran is a very jealous God like the God of the old testament. Both ignorance and fear of punishment keeps muslims in obedience to their mullahs and rulers even to this day. We cannot therefore be hopeful that Islam will ever let muslims live in peace with non muslims.
I would also recommend Arun Shourie's book " The World of Fatwas" to those who liked Bostom's compilation. Shourie's book shows how Muslims to this day ask their scholars (ignorant mullahs in reality) for answers and guidance on mundane matters and how banal the guidance they get is. Shourie's book also extensively deals with the cruelty that muslims inflict on their divorced women.For instance, a man can divocrce a woman merely by repeating thrice the words " I divorce thee". If he regrets his decision and wishes to remarry his former wife he cannot do so until his ex-wife first marries some one else, consummates that marriage, and is then divorced by her new husband.
Please read this book. It will accurately fill you in on Islamic attitude towards non muslims from its origin till the present day
The complete source on Islamic Jihad.......2007-07-08
Dr. Bostom's book "The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims" is clearly not for the simple minded and faint hearted readers of this world. Of the countless books I have read on Islam and the art of Jihad perpetrated by Muslim's since the birth of Muhammad, Dr. Bostom's books ranks number one in actual scholarly research, facts documented, and the utilization of both Muslim and non-Muslim historical text.
All aspects of Jihad are discussed from every prospective that includes sources from the Muslims that conquered non-Muslim lands through the sword, and from the people that survived the bloody conquests to write about it. Readers will also be surprised to read many authentic writings from scholarly Hindu, Christians, Greeks, Zoroastrian and numerous other civilizations that were enslaved by the Muslim invaders.
Nothing escapes Dr. Bostom in this book and clearly anyone looking for a wealth of information regarding life under Islamic Sharia Law needs to have this book on their book shelve as an endless source or reference that even the most scholarly Muslim can't refute.
My only criticism concerning this book is that the print is small and at times, Dr. Bostom has so many sources in the book, at times, you lose the sense of `flow' in the book.
This isn't a book you read from cover to cover considering its length and depth, but, this is most certainly a book all serious minded people intent on understanding Islam have to read if they really want to understand the history and factual evidence of Jihad.
Andres Bostom writes with knowledge and facts.......2007-07-02
I have been following the writing of Andrew Bostom long before I have the honor of meeting him. His articles and writings are unique as they not only give facts, they are footnoted, and backed up with reasons and statements to prove the points. Regardless of your views on Islamic Holy War, you cannot read this book and not understand the situation we are facing and the fate of Dhimmitude and Sharia law if this goes under the radar of being PC. We must understand, we can lose not only Israel but the USA if we do not fight the enemy within. Great Book, Great Reading, and a must have.
A must read for those trying to understand the violence associated with Islam. .......2007-03-14
This is an excellent resource to study about the violence that is inherent to Islam.
Islamic terrorism has been around right from the time of the `prophet' Mohammed. In fact if you study the life and deeds of Mohammed, you will realize that he is the first Islamic terrorist. All the actions and deeds of all the tyrants listed in this book, and those of today's terrorists like Al Zarqawi, Bin Laden or the Taliban, mirrors the life and deeds of Mohammed.
Here are a few of the atrocities committed by Mohammed. They give a feeling of Déjà vu
1) Massacre of unarmed merchants during sacred month
Date: Late January(Rejeb), 623 A.D.
Place: Nakhla
Victims: 4 Merchants from Quraysh tribe of Mecca, the Tribe to which Mohammed himself belonged
Four UNARMED merchants were traveling to Mecca to sell their goods consisting of raisins, honey and animal skins. It was the holy month of Rejeb which was considered sacred for trade in Arabia. It was a point of honor that any form of warfare or violence was strictly forbidden in this month. Mohammed's gang attacked the helpless men from behind and stabbed two of them to death. They plundered all the goods as booty and Mohammed got one fifths of the share.
This shows the utter lack of morals or scruples on Mohammed's part. The Prophet of Islam did not possess a shred of pity or kindness, or the slightest sense of justice. He cold-bloodedly murdered two innocent people who had never done him any harm and did not even know him! All this was done in a month that the Prophet himself declared was a sacred month in which no warfare should take place. Mohammed was obviously motivated by nothing but hatred and greed.
2) Slaughter of Meccans who came to defend their caravans
Date: March (Ramadan) 17, 623 A.D
Place: The well of Badr
Victims: 70 merchants from Quraysh Tribe of Mecca, The Quraysh army which came to defend them
The merchandise being carried by this caravan was worth more than 50,000 Gold Dinars. Mohammed ganged up all the criminals of Medina and set out to raid the caravan with 300 men. The Meccans got word of the raid and sent out an army to protect the caravan. Throughout the entire battle Mohammad cowered in a hut which his men made for him. There he cried and prayed with feverish anxiety. At one point he came out of the hut and threw pebbles in the enemy's direction, screaming "Let evil look on your faces!" and "By him who holds my soul in his hands, anyone who fights for me today will go to paradise!" The Muslims killed over two hundred and took seventy prisoners. All seventy of the prisoners were ransomed, and any prisoner who did not fetch a ransom had his head chopped off.
Mohammed was gratified at the sight of his murdered victims. After the battle, he sent his followers to look for the corpse of Abu Jahal, one of the Meccans who had criticized him openly. When his corpse was found,they cut off the head and threw it down at Mohammed's feet. The "Apostle of peace" cried out in delirious joy, "Rejoice! Here lies the head of the enemy of Allah! Praise Allah, for there is no other but he!" The Prophet then ordered a great pit to be dug for the bodies of the innocents to be dumped. The Muslims then proceeded to hack the corpses limbs into pieces. As the bloodied mass of bodies was being thrown into the pit, a feverishly excited Mohammed shrieked, " O People of the Pit, have you found that what Allah threatened is true now? For I have found that what my Lord promised was true! Rejoice All Muslims!" One of the prisoners taken was the defiant Al Nadr Ibn al Harith, who had earlier taken Muhammad's challenge of telling better stories than him. Muhammad ordered Ali to strike off Nadr's head in his presence, so he could watch and exult in the pleasure of beheading the man who had insulted him. Another prisoner Uqba ibn Abi Muait was decapitated in front of the Prophet. Before being killed the prisoner cried out pitifully "O Prophet, who will look after my children if I should die?" The "Great Prophet of the Religion of Peace" coldly spat out "Hellfire", as the blade came down and spattered his clothes with Uqba's blood.
3) Assassination of poets who criticized Mohammed's murderous ways
Date: Late March-April, 623 A.D
Place: Medinah
Victims: Two of the most famous poets of Medinah, who had the courage to criticize the murderous actions of Mohammed and his gang
After the battle of Badr, the people of Medinah were horrified that they had given refuge to such a blatant criminal and his followers in their city. Many began protesting the presence of such violent and murderous people in their city. In a free society like Pre-Islamic Arabia, the poets acted as society's conscience and were free to criticize, satirize and examine the actions of people. The two most famous poets of this kind were Abu 'Afak; an extremely old and respected poet and Asma bint Marwan; a young mother with the gift of superb verse.
Muhammad was enraged at their criticism. When he heard the verses composed by Asma Bint Marwan he was infuriated and screamed aloud, "Will no one rid me of this daughter of Marwan!" That very night a gang of Muslims set out to do the dirty deed. They broke into the poets' house. She was lying in in her bedroom suckling her newborn child, while her other small children slept nearby. The Muslims tore the newborn infant off her breast and hacked it to pieces before her very eyes. They then made her watch the murder of all four of her children, before raping and then stabbing her repeatedly to death. After the murder when the Muslims went to inform the Prophet, he said "You have done a service to Allah and his Messenger, her life was not worth even two goats!"
A month later the distinguished and highly respected Abu Afak, who was over a hundred years old and renowned for his sense of fairness, was killed brutally in the same manner as he slept. Once again the Prophet had commented that morning "Who will avenge me on this scoundrel!"
This shows us exactly how much the tolerant and peace loving Prophet respected life. Muslims claim that Mohammed was extremely gentle and loved children. Indeed the horrifying way he had Asma Bint Marwan's five infants slaughtered certainly attests to this "loving" side of the Prophet.
4) The Siege of the Banu Qaynuqa
Date: April, 623 A.D
Place: Medinah
Victims: The Jewish Tribe of Banu Qaynuqa
In order to get full control of Medinah, Mohammed needed to get rid of all his opponents. The strongest of these opponents was Abdallah Ibn Ubayy, a powerful chief who was allied with the Jewish Tribe of Banu Qaynuqa. This tribe was also the weakest, because they were made up of craftsmen, in particular goldsmiths. By attacking them, Mohammed knew he could plunder a huge amount of wealth and weaken Ibn Ubayy. Mohammed needed an excuse to attack them so he made a girl married to one of his followers, pretend that she had been teased by the Jews. The Muslims blockaded the fort of the Banu Qaynuqa for fifteen days until the starving Jews surrendered. Immediately, the Prophet was ready to kill them all, but Ibn Ubayy seized hold of Mohammed and protested. Mohammed's face became black with rage as he shouted "Let go of me", but Ibn Ubayy was adamant and shouted back "No, by God, I will not let you go until you deal kindly with my allies. 400 men without armour and 300 with, who have always supported me against enemies. And you want to slay them all in one morning! By God, If I were in your place I would fear a reversal of fortune"
At this threat, the cowardly Mohammed turned pale, as he realized that all the people of Medinah were against him. He hit Ibn Ubayy on the face and ordered that the Jews be kicked out of their own homes. All their property was seized and looted, many of the prettiest women were taken as prisoners to become sex-slaves. Mohammed kept one-fifths of the enormous booty for himself. This is the way he repaid the kindness of the Jews of Medina, who had given him shelter and a refuge, when Mohammed had run away from Mecca in fear.
The revelations in the Eighth Sura of the Koran were clearly in reference to the Banu Qaynuqa and anyone who opposed the Muslims.
Note to expected Muslim commenters; please explain Muhammad's actions after the battle of Badr before adding your opinions.
Book Description
Juan Cole examines Shi'i Islam as a world religion that has faced modernity on its own terms. He explores the little known history of Shi'i communities as far afield as Bahrain and India, giving attention as well to important centers such as Lebanon , Iraq, and Iran. He demonstrates the way in which the Shi'is have sought to define space and time as sacred, and to defend those spaces from encroachment by the Other, whether that other be Sunni Arab, Hindu, or European Christian.
Customer Reviews:
Juan Cole is an apologist for Islamic barbarism.......2004-05-14
Juan Cole's credentials are consistently undermined but his uncanny ability to apologize and/or ignore the savagery perpetrated by the Shia on ALL non-Shia citizens in their midst. This blatant deception reduces the entire work to yet another source of propaganda with that mighty Islamic stamp of approval. Who pays your bills, Juan?
Deceptive Advertising.......2004-05-04
This poorly edited and abysmally proofread book is nothing more than a compilation of unrelated articles on obscure elements of the history of one Shia sect. There is no unifying theme, and the book fails utterly to live up to its promise. I bought it after being impressed by interview with the author on NPR's "Fresh Air" program. Clearly the interviewer made the running.
Exellent book but not a primer on Shia.......2004-04-15
This book is an excellent exploration of a subject not well studied by Western scholars. While this book is well written, I would suggest reading a primer on middle-eastern or Islamic history first. The book is aimed at people who have a general understanding of the subject but are looking to add real depth to what they know. You will find few people who know the subject better than Cole. I suggesting listening to his recent interview on NPR ("Fresh Air with Terry Gross") which can be heard on-line. I can only hope that people in government who have to make critical choice based on their knowledge of the Middle-East will read books like this.
Not what I expected.......2003-05-29
The book appears to be a collection of disparate lectures or essays loosely tied together to take advantage of the spike in Islamic interest due to terrorism. The book title is deceptive, as it is actually the title of a single chapter in the book, which refers to the 1855 battle over the Ayodha mosque site in India. Although the book does shed light on Bahraini, Saudi and Indian Shi'ite communities (only the Twelver sect, however) it never provides a strong sense of Shia "politics, culture and history" as implied in the title. There is some relevant information on Iranian, Iraqi and Lebanese Shi'ites, but not the level of detail I expected. You will learn something if you read this book, just understand going in that you will have to read another book if you want an understanding of modern Shi'ism. There has got to be a better organized, more focused and concise resource available.
Books:
- Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg (Crown Journeys)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Books Index
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