Book Description
Written by a non-Jewish analytic philosopher, this book addresses the issue of whether, and to what extent, current opposition to Israel on the liberal-left embodies anti-Semitic stances. It argues that the dominant climate of liberal opinion disseminates, however inadvertently, a range of anti-Semitic assertions and motifs of the most traditional kind. It advocates a return to an unrestricted anti-racism which would allow liberals to defend Palestinian interests without demonizing Jews.
Customer Reviews:
Very thoughtful and well-written.......2007-06-24
This is a careful work on the nature of the resurgence of anti-Semitism. We see the ill will, the falsehoods, and lack of logic displayed by the anti-Semites, and there's some speculation on what gets some folks to behave in such a manner.
Bernard Harrison starts by discussing some of the properties of political anti-Semitism. He says that it generally includes, as a minimum, the proposition that Jews are a mysterious, depraved, and conspiratorial society which threatens the well-being of any nation which harbors them. And he reminds us that many of the accusations made against "the Jews" are simply self-inconsistent or incoherent. For example, the blood libel accusations are generally of the form that observant Jews commit ritual murder for religious reasons, something which is, of course, expressly forbidden by their religion. We also generally see anti-Semites simultaneously claim (or imply) that Jews are so powerful as to be responsible for the bulk of the evil in today's society yet are so powerless that they can be attacked with impunity (I tend to believe that those who make such claims are more serious about the latter one).
We also see discussions of the preposterous claim that mere criticism of Israel is sufficient to get one automatically branded as an anti-Semite. As well as another ridiculous claim that almost anyone who finds anything about Israel that is worthy of support is Jewish, and that pretty much anyone who is Jewish supports Israel. And the even more absurd claim that Israel is basically a colonial enterprise is also quickly refuted.
Harrison also is careful to distinguish between explaining why Israel exists and justifying Israel's existence. I agree. The fact that Jerusalem had been (and still was) the Jewish capital city in the 19th century helps explain why many Jews tried moving to the region once they had the opportunity to do so. The White Paper of 1939 helps explain why the number of Jews who demanded a Jewish state quickly became a majority once World War Two broke out. But these facts, by themselves do not "justify" what happened, nor do they "establish" Israel's "right to exist."
The author does write about fascism and the concept of "total war," including war against civilians. Here, he makes an excellent point, namely that claims about the "guilt" of such civilians make no sense. As he explains, even if one assents to the idea of capital punishment, "punishment" makes no sense without the concept of desert, desert makes no sense without a practicable and practiced system of laws, laws require some general acquiescence in their operation, acquiescence requires reconciliation, and reconciliation requires all sides to admit their own errors and as a minimum the right of their adversaries to exist. Obviously, any bunch of gangsters can go around murdering people, but we ought to remind ourselves that they are not necessarily "punishing" those who "deserve it."
There is a discussion about whether or not there ought to be a "Holocaust Day" for remembering that societies can make some terrible moral mistakes. Here, Harrison is careful to explain that the emphasis on the suffering of the victims is probably misplaced, as plenty of people have suffered in all sorts of tragedies. No, the emphasis ought to be on the terrible results, systematic annihilation of groups of people, of a certain kind of corruption which springs from a philosophy of racial superiority. Again, I agree. I'm not so sure we need a Holocaust Day, but I certainly do not buy the argument that such a day makes the Jews special, or makes Jewish blood worth more (or less) than the blood of non-Jews. The author makes the point that some people are envious of the sympathy that they think some Jews receive for the Holocaust and wish to use that word (often without its actual meaning) to get some sympathy for themselves. I find such an idea doubly misguided, as I tend to agree with Herzl that even appeals for sympathy by the genuinely oppressed are futile and dishonorable.
Some folks do insist on "dismantling" Israel, and Harrison discusses this at length. Here, he makes another good point, namely that the would-be dismantlers do not seem to worry much about how to protect the rights of the Jews in the region after the "dismantling." Instead, we see one anti-Israeli claim to be worried about the "fate" of the Jews, as if the Jews ought not have rights and as if whatever happens to the Jews is not only the fault of the Jews, but something the rest of us can't possibly prevent or be responsible for.
The lack of logic of some anti-Semitic claims does get exposed. We see the "mysteriousness" of the Jews used as a means to explain how the Jews can accomplish vast crimes even when they lack both motive and opportunity. Of course, when it gets to claims that "the Jewish lobby" has managed to reduce "the entire American political establishment to a state of bemused sleepwalking" for the past forty years, Harrison explains that we're not only talking about Jews doing the impossible, but about the American people being quite a bit stupider than they really are.
Near the end of the book, the author asks if anti-Semitism matters. Does it matter that the Guardian spouts a fair amount of it? Well, yes, it does. The terror we see is not helping Arabs, Jews, or anyone else. And responsible people ought to feel bound by a duty to support truth and facts. Harrison says that while one can live without understanding world affairs, one can't "live perfectly well on a diet of murderous lies. Europe tried that in the 1930s. It would do well not to try it again."
I highly recommend this book.
Focused, well-argued, important.......2007-01-15
I write as a long-time leftist, writer on Marxist theory, and charter member of the New Left.
Harrison brings a precise philosopher's intelligence to the vexing, frightening, and at times disgusting phenomenon of left-wing anti-semitism. If his history is at times one-sided and his account of the left simplistic, he has nailed the many failures of left moral clarity and intellectual imagination. If you've ever wondered why and how seemingly liberal, left, anti-racist, nice people can hold such distorted views on Israel, this is an excellent book for you. If you think of yourself as progressive and think Israel has no right to exist, or is the sole cause of the conflict, you'd better read it immediately.
Amazon.com
In the global search for culprits and causes in the rise of terrorism, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold shines a spotlight on a nation many think of as a close ally of the United States: Saudi Arabia. As he explains in Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism, Gold believes that the Saudi government is greatly influenced by the Islamist sect known as Wahhabism and, he explains, that influence has lead to Saudi support of terrorism in the Middle East, Europe, the United States and around the world. The historical portion of Gold's argument, where he traces the emergence of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and the changing face of Saudi leadership, is admirably extensive and detailed. His modern research is a little more uneven, relying on statements by various Muslim clergy members, letters to the editors of newspapers, opinion pieces, and other evidence that is rarely damnable. Curiously, mentions of Israel and the long-standing Arab-Israeli conflict are much more infrequent than one would expect from an Israeli diplomat and scholar. But regardless of one's opinion of Gold's research or his alarming conclusions, the book offers something not often found in modern political nonfiction: a coherent structure, exhaustive research, and a clear and consistent perspective on the ongoing threat of terrorism. --John Moe
Book Description
Dore Gold, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. and internationally known Middle East expert, uses previously unpublished intelligence documents to piece together the links between the current wave of global terrorism-from the World Trade Center to Bali, Indonesia-and the ideology of hatred taught in the schools and mosques of Saudi Arabia.
Customer Reviews:
waste of time.......2007-05-10
Dore Gold has written a brave and honest book that, in previous civilizations, would have alarmed the populace and surely spurred them to action. All the evidence you need is right there in the appendices: photocopies, facsimilies, letters, what not. The case is airtight.
But what's the point?
Honestly. Saudi Arabia has been exposed to death. As exposed as anything can be. Everybody knows the score. Even the most mentally impaired village idiots in the backwaters of the Kalahari know that the Saudis have been encouraging and financing global terrorism for years, denying it all the while. This isn't news: anybody who was going to do anything about the situation has already done so, or made up their minds not to.
What would have made the book better is if Gold had gone beyond the mere reporting of non-news into an analysis of why the situation is the way it is. In other words, what exactly are the forces that compel or enable the people involved, from the illiterate Sri Lankan navvy sweeping the streets of Riyadh all the way up to well-informed advisors in the highest levels of U.S. government, and everybody in between, to keep their mouths shut?
The bets have all been placed. Everybody's hoping they can just stick it out and make their pile before the whole thing implodes, praying all the while it won't splatter on them.
Excellent and Enlightening.......2007-04-25
Contrary to some of the criticism leveled toward this book, I found this author to be very balanced and fair toward Islam. For example, Gold identifies the aspect of Wahabi theology that justifies jihad toward non-Wahabi Muslims, such as Shi'ites and Sufis. By labeling the latter as 'polytheists', extremist Wahabi groups have justified violence toward these groups as well as desecration of sacred Islamic sites. Gold documents both historic and modern examples of this, such as the intrusion of Wahabi jihadists into the Balkans.
I found it valuable to learn the symbiotic relationship between the Saudi Royal Family and the Wahabi clergy and how the royal family gives the latter power and influence in order to maintain favor. Also, how oil money has funded the export of radical Wahabi ideology and the terrorist activities conducted by the latter. And paradoxically, because of Western dependence on oil, the money came from the very countries the Wahabi ideology holds in contempt!
Sometimes the book is dense and hard to follow but I think every member of government who has a role in international affairs should read it.
Sadly, in reading this and other studies, it becomes apparent that Western democracies ended up supporting many terrorist regimes in their attempt to fight the Cold War. Supporting the 'bad guys' just because they are against one's current enemies is a dangerous and risky strategy indeed and makes us look like hypocrites. Jimmy Carter referred to Khomeini as a 'holy man'. We supported Sadaam Hussein. Look where it got us!
Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism by Dore Gold.......2007-02-24
An excellent, comprehensive discussion of the roots of Islamic terrorism.
A history buff gets shamed..........2006-07-30
I am embarrassed to realize the extent of my own ignorance regarding the Wahabi menace. As a lover of history and one who could draw a fairly accurate survey of the events that shaped the West during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, I was grievously unaware of the monstrous theology and murderous campaign of Ibn `Abd Al-Wahhab. One wonders how the terrors of the crusades could compare to the genocidal murder of "impure" Muslims by the fanatical armies of Wahab. One wonders still why the West fails to see the ever-present and growing threat posed by the Wahhabi poison which spans out from Saudi Arabia (our allies?) to infect Muslims around the world. This book is required reading for every American who feels the need to make some progress toward understanding why some Muslims cultivate hatred above all other "virtues." Want to know why supposedly godly people feel compelled to murder innocent women, children, and men? Want to understand why they have no difficulty murdering their own kinsmen and fellow Muslims? It's the poisonous Muslim heresy of Wahhabism. Where does it come from and how is it funded and propagated across the globe? Saudi Arabia is Hatred's Kingdom as Dore Gold has dubbed it. This book is a good starting place and a dreadful portent of things to come as long as Saudi Arabia is not held accountable. The Saudi mission to spread Wahhabism has been incredibly "successful" in Indonesia, Chechnya, Bosnia, America, and of course, Palestine where their PLO has become the center of a maelstrom of Islamic hatred. One stat that might be instructive for all those who think the extremists are a small minority is that 79% of Palestinian children state that they want to be suicide bombers when they grow up. It would seem the "extremists" are the few who want peace. If you think this is all an academic discussion for Americans consider that 70% of the Mosques in America teach the Wahhabi doctrine. Get this book and learn what those "friendly" neighborhood mosque-goers really think about you.
Good start, weak finish.......2005-11-29
I found the historical chapters of the book (up until about 1960) to be most useful section. As we pass into King Fahd's reign, the reasoning becomes much more speculative. Nonetheless, the author presents a plausible scenario. Careful documentation of the links between the major players is useful, and however you slice it, the latter chapters show the razors' edge the political leaders of Saudi Arabia must walk.
Book Description
Since September 11, Al Qaeda has been portrayed as an Islamist front united in armed struggle, or jihad, against the Christian West. However, as the historian and commentator Fawaz A. Gerges argues, the reality is rather different and more complex. In fact, Al Qaeda represents a minority within the jihadist movement, and its strategies have been vehemently criticized and opposed by religious nationalists among the jihadis, who prefer to concentrate on changing the Muslim world rather than taking the fight global. It is this rift that led to the events of September 11 and that has dominated subsequent developments. Through several years of primary field research, the author unravels the story of the jihadist movement and explores how it came into being, the philosophies of its founding fathers, its structure, the rifts and tensions that split its ranks, and why some members, like Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, favored international over local strategies in taking the war to the West. This is an articulate and original book that sheds light on the tactics used by the jihadis in the last three decades. As more alienated young Muslims are seduced into joining, the author asks where the jihadist movement is going and whether it can survive and shed its violent character. Fawaz A. Gerges holds the Christian A. Johnson Chair in International Affairs and Middle Eastern Studies at Sarah Lawrence College.He was educated at Oxford University and the London School of Economics and has previously been a Research Fellow at Harvard and Princeton universities. He is also a senior analyst and regular commentator for ABC television news. His books include America and Political Islam: Clash of Interests or Clash of Cultures? (Cambridge,1999) and The Journey of the Jihadis: A Biography of a State of Mind (Harcourt Press, 2006). He has written extensively on Arab and Muslim politics, Islamist movements, American foreign policy, and relations between the world of Islam and the West. His articles have appeared in several of the most prestigious journals and newspapers in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.
Customer Reviews:
Multi-demensional Jihads .......2007-06-25
The term Jihad is based on the Qur'an saying "...you who believe fight the unbelievers who are near to you." In practice this has been interpreted to mean defending Islam, including the Shari'a (Islamic Law), against internal and external threats. This interpretation has produced the concepts of the `near enemy' that is threats from within the realm of Islam (Dar al Islam) usually from secular or apostate rulers and the `far enemy' that is threats to Islam from non-Islamic States such as those of the West or Israel.
This is a way of introducing this most important book by Fawz A. Gerges. Its central thesis is that the concept of Jihad is far from monolithic, but has splintered into many separate movements with very different agendas. According to Gerges these include a relatively small movement that adheres to the far enemy ideology of Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda movement. This movement see the principal threat to Islam as coming primarily from the U.S. and Israel as well as the West in general. Gerges does not discount the threat posed by this movement, but does note that it is very much a minority movement within a much broader spectrum of Jihadist movements. The inference from Gerges book is that if al Qaeda is understood for what it is, a relatively minor group in a much wider Jihadist movement, it can be better combated.
As Gerges makes clear the concept of Jihad is a complex one and requires a good deal knowledge to understand the implications of Jihadist movements for U.S. National Security. This is not a perfect book and Gerges is at best a pedestrian writer. Yet, the attentive reader can extract a good deal of relevant information about the ideology and institutional structure of the perpetrators of the dreadful attacks of September 11 2001.
Hard to Finish Book.......2007-01-11
It took me over a year to finish this book, and there were times when I had to force myself to continue reading just a few more badly-written pages. The book is touted as having something to do with globalization, but I don't see where it has anything to do with that. Instead, it's a critique of the American war on terror disguised as a scholarly text, and that's if you call the author citing himself (what he said on previous pages) scholarly. It implies that the al-Qaeda or jihadist movement would self-destruct on its own if we just left its inherent disorganizational tendencies run the course. In fact, it argues al-Qaeda is a fluke, and repeatedly argues that peace, love, and/or truth-making is what Mohammed practiced and what real Muslims are all about. It argues the root cause of terrorism is a need for upward mobility in the Arab world, and that becoming a transnationalist, antiglobalist terrorist provides that kind of upward mobility. Neither of these latter two ideas are supported by anything but argument and a cursory swipe at Marxism. What is extensively supported and cited via interviews and analysis of tape recordings are the contradictions in logic by al-Qaeda leaders and supporters. Hence, the book cherry picks the easy things to do, and glosses over the hard stuff. I'd call that insignificant.
Ali Abbas Q.......2006-12-20
it is a panoramic view of the Jihadist endeavor (different from
Islamist, regional Islamists and transnationalist jihadsits),
particularly in the early 70's through the emergence of several
Islamist Organizations, in the lands of Islam, from Egypt, Algeria, the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and culminating with the Russian Invasion in
Afghanistan. from the treatment of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Tanzim
(which was then lead by al-Zawahiri), and Tanzims eventually marriage
with al-Qaeda
the title of the work it-self 'The Far Enemy' begs in it-self, the
rupture in the jihadist movement, as they turned their frame and focus
from 'The Near Enemy', i.e the focus on toppling proxy regimes
supported by the West, in Egypt in particular, and Algeria to the 'Far
Enemy', i.e the United States in particular. with brutal suppression
and oppression of the Islamists in Egypt and Algeria (which was an all
out civil war), the very infra-structure of the irredentist movement,
i.e the local jihadi movements was severely undermined, before the
Russian Invasion
the Book contends, that the Russian Invasion, gave the likes of
al-Zawahiri, the pre-text to train and re-organize them-selves in the
beautiful land-scape of Afghanistan, not with the intent of assisting
the Afghanis, but with the intent of garnering up more energy, training
and organization, following the brutal repression of the jihadits in
Egypt. many Islamic Countries, where happy to send elements of this
Islamist out-fits to Afghanistan, to simply get them "off" their backs
for the time being, and let the furor of their dis-agreements channeled
into the Afghan conflict.
sad is the reality, that when the altristic jihadis who went there to
defend the defenseless Afghanis returned home, they had to face the
wrath, not only of the authorities, but also that of the un-willigness
of the societies to integrate them. importantly, the doctrinal
brain-washing which represented, the perpetuation of "jihad" as a
defensive posture, was turned around and suggested as a "continious
struggle" against the other. (this is the Qutbian paradigm, which is
the hall mark of many jihadis)! left with such a large pool of highly
trained, social mis-fits (it makes me think, about the prophetic
tradition, that 'who-ever moves forward of the jama'ah ...', it places
the onus and responsibility of the jama'ah to create avenues where
their energies and motivations are duly applied and appreciated, and
not let to wander off to the rants and raves of mis-fits like
al-Zawahiri and Usama b Laden), it really presented a "social problem
of sorts"!
but the reader ought not to be confused, and lump sum all jihadis and
Islamists within the same category. there are and continue to exist
various variations of Islamic Activities that are non jihadi in nature,
and only contend a defensive jihad, building up societies, working with
the given institutions.
so what was the turning point of this radical departure from the 'Near
Enemy' to the 'Far Enemy', as it relates to al-Zawahiri, and his
collusion with Usama b. Laden? several factors, but most of it with the
decay and the loss of leadership within the Islamic Lands of these
regional Islamists, followed by the utter failure of the Islamists to
"integrate them-selves" within the Community (i.e they had seceeded
out-side the realm of the Community). the Gulf War I provided for a
pretext for Usama b Laden to turn the tables around, after being
snubbed by the Saudi Royal Family, and the Saudi 'Ulama (including bin
Baz and Uthmayin, who feared their lives). such an insult to the
persona of Usama b Laden really catapulted him, and his journey from
various Islamic Lands, eventually to Afghanistan, under the protection
and aegis of the Taliban, and the Commander of the Faithful, Mulla
Omar!
it was the collusion between al-Zawahiri and Usama b Laden that lead to
the formation of al-Qaeda, with a very large following.
but the work, also sets to de-bunk and de-mythologize these aspects
1. that the jihadist movement was organized: there was and continues to
be great opposition to the al-Qaeda Organization, evident even from the
ranks and files of those who had served within al-Zawahiri. targetting
the United States, lead in and of it-self the opening of two frontiers,
which the Islamists were not able to contend with, and voiced their
large opposition to it, but to no avail
2. that the jihadist movement represents the collectivity of the muslim
participation: again, the current organization is lead mostly by
"arabs", and there was extreme dis-pleasure expressed by non Arab
jihadis on the preference given to the arab Jihadis, vis a vis money
and positions of power within these organizations
3. the presence of shura: practically absent, since Usama b Laden, was
not only able to gather followers by the dint of the personality cult,
but was also able to suppress any dissenting opinions under the
pre-text of the baya that was given to him/organization
the work truly breaks down our frame of thought in lumping all jihadis,
whether they by regional, irredentist (re-deeming the land of
Afghanistan from the Russians) and trans-national as simply
self-serving and false. given the retractions of several Islamists in
the Islamic World and their out-spokenness against the jihadi posture
that calls for a "clash of civilizations", it also helps to under-stand
the short-comings of the 9-11 Commission in treating the subject at
hand. while the 9-11 commission report does a brilliant work in
breaking down the tragic events of 9-11 "tactically", there is a very
little from the pespective of the nuanced analysis that comes from this
work.
Poor writing.......2006-04-17
I will admit, I stopped after reading the first 50 pages. It's very repetitive. After a 15 page prologue, the author offers a 25 page introduction. Maybe both should have been skipped. The main idea: up until the 1990s radical Muslims focused on fighting their own governments (the near enemy) and in the mid 1990s a small fraction of them decided to fight the U.S. and Western countries (the far enemy). Interesting, but in the first 40 pages, the author made this point at least ten times. Not only ideas and arguments, even whole sentences are repeated from one page to the other. For readers interested in this topic, I recommend 'The Next Attack' which I'll give at least four stars.
More than Soundbites.......2006-02-01
Though the author seems to belabor the point at times, the end result is a study in the jihadist trends of the past 30+ years. In this book you will be introduced to the key players in this drama along with the historical background of how their thought and teaching developed. It will take some time to digest it all but do not rush the reading and you will be rewarded with a level of analysis lacking in most books and reporting on the subject. It is well written for such a complex and daunting study.
Book Description
Our GLOBAL STUDIES Series provides students with comprehensive background and current information shaping regional cultures and countries of the world today. Each volume features country report essays and maps as well as relevant articles from world-wide publications.
Visit our website for more information and a complete listing of titles: www.mhcls.com/globalstudies/
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(En)gendering the War on Terror: War Stories And Camouflaged Politics (Gender in a Global/Local World) (Gender in a Global/Local World) (Gender in a Global/Local World)
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0754644812 |
Book Description
This book describes a method, the cultural metaphor, for readily understanding the cultural mindset of a nation and comparing it to those of other nations. This method involves identifying some phenomenon, activity or institution of a nation’s culture that all or most of its members consider important with which they identify closely. Metaphors are not stereotypes; rather, they rely upon the features of one critical phenomenon in a society to describe the entire society. The characteristics of the metaphor then become the basis for describing and understanding the essential features of the society. For example, the Italians invented the opera and love it passionately. Five key characteristics of the opera are the overture, spectacle and pageantry, voice, exteriority, and the interaction between the lead singers and the chorus. These features are used to describe Italy and its cultural mindset. Thus the metaphor is a guide or map that helps the student of the foreigner understand quickly what members of a society consider important
What’s new:
A new organizational framework: In the first edition, there was no overriding framework into which parts of the book could be divided. In the new edition, the generic types of cultural frameworks developed by Triandis and Fiske and the torn and cleft culture framework developed by Huntington, organize the book. These frameworks allow the reader to gain new insight into various cultural metaphors and to address the challenging issue of integrating cultural and economic perspectives.
New nations covered in this edition include:
- The Thai Kingdom
- Saudi Arabia
- Brazil
- Poland
- Korea
- Malaysian
- Mexico
- Portugal
Customer Reviews:
MBA level reading or superficial nonsense???.......2003-12-04
Questions:
1. Why does anyone want to know, at the MBA level, cultural information about 23 countries?
2. What MBA, is going to be managing 23 or more countries at the same time?
3. What good is a 10-15 page overview of a country with millions of people? Do you think you can adequately describe the United States in such a short space? (for a foreign MBA for example - reversing the situation)
4. Why are MBA's reading this instead of peer reviewed journals?
5. As with the Hofstede debacle, where does the author demonstrate language skills to get down to the true motivations and causes of cultural behaviors, particularly those that play a role in the global game of economics?
If you are an MBA student or a Ph.D. candidate, you need to avoid all materials like this and get down to the real grit of cross cultural studies by learning to a competent level, another language and at least living in the target country for a year or two, asking deep, penetrating questions while you are there. Anything less, and the reader/student is being untrue not to academic pursuits but to himself/herself!
Invaluable Academic Resource.......2001-10-03
I have now used Gannon's book at both the MBA and senior undergraduate level in courses on Cross-Cultural Management. It is the best approach I have found for synthesizing material from the sociological, anthropological and business disciplines in the education of the manager/student with regard to organizational design and its adaptation to the local characteristics of the market, the legislation, the fiscal regime, the socio-political system and the cultural system encountered in the international environment. Coupled with Gannon's other book of readings, research translations and commentary on cultural metaphors and his book of applications and exercises for working across cultures, the instructor has the most thorough framework and set of tools for dealing with the difficult issues encountered in understanding other cultures that I have seen to date. International students in my graduate courses have unanimously acknowledged that Gannon's metaphors for their cultures are perceptively and creatively right on the mark.
Best Bet.......2001-08-23
Gannon and his associates have written a delightful, must-read book for people who work across cultures. The cultural descriptions are easy to remember and provide much greater depth than most treatments of culture. The book provides many new insights, even for people who know these cultures well, and is very good at explaining why other cultures behave as they do. Gannon's book is so well-written and interesting that my MBA students complain that they have difficulty wrestling the book away from other family members who pick it up and get hooked. If someone asked me to recommend just one book to read on culture, Understanding Global Cultures would get my vote.
Book Description
The Global Studies series is designed to provide comprehensive background information and selected world press articles on the regions and countries of the world. This edition of Global Studies: Islam and the Muslim World is a mini-encyclopedia on the subject. The Preface maintains that we are living in a globally interdependent world in which it is imperative for the non-Muslim world to understand the faith of 1.3 billion Muslims who live all over the world. Part I comprises two chapters: Chapter 1 is a timeline of the “Momentous Events And Influential Muslims That Have Shaped Islamic Civilization (570-1605 CE);” Chapter 2, “Understanding Islam, Muslims, Islamism, and Anti-Americanism,” comprises sections on the “Fundamentals of Islam,” “Islamism,” “Myths and Misconceptions About Islam and Muslims,” as well as “Islamophobia in the West and Anti-Westernism/Anti-Americanism in the Muslim World.” Chapter 2 also has several informative boxes and tables that present vitally important matters pertaining to Islam and Islamism at a glance. The two boxes are “The Ninety-Nine Names of God” and “Sensational Events in the Media about Islam and Muslims.” The six tables in the chapter are “Sunnis and Shi`as: A Comparison of Islam’s Two Major Sects,” “A Comparison of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity,” “Jesus and Muhammad: Founders of the World’s Two Largest Religions,” “Islam and the Nation of Islam: A Comparative Overview,” “Revolutionary Islamists and Muslim Secularists: A Succinct Comparison,” and “A Comparison of Revolutionary Islamists and Progressive Islamists.” Part II comprises informative “Country Reports” for the fifty-seven member states that represent the Muslim world’s interests through the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). Part III provides readers with world press articles on various aspects of the World of Islam. This book also provides readers with a list of annotated Internet sites on Islam. In addition, a list of articles and books on Islam and the Muslim world, a selected glossary of key terms, and a comprehensive and easy to access index are provided.
Customer Reviews:
A Must Read Book.......2006-01-06
As a student of political science and international relations I always look for new publications that relates to the Middle East. When I first heard about this book from a friend of mine; I asked him if I can borrow it to go over the book quickly. I was amazed how the author was able to capture all the significant and important aspects of Islam and the Muslim world in the most simple and easy to follow method. I loved the tables in the book and how the author was able to compare and contrast between the different elements of Islam. This book has many important articles written by prominent scholars in the field of international politics and Middle Eastern Studies. This book is a must read for anyone who is interested to learn the surface and depth about Islam and the Muslim World. I have decided to buy this book and added it to my small library.
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Competitive Frontiers: Women Managers in a Global Economy
Nancy J. Adler
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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Management & Leadership
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The Female Advantage
ASIN: 1557865108 |
Book Description
The Global Studies series is designed to provide comprehensive background information and selected world press articles on the regions and countries of the world. This tenth edition of Global Studies: Middle East provides an introduction to the status and problems of the Middle East -- through essays, statistics, current world press readings, and a listing of related World Wide Web sites.
Customer Reviews:
Middle East.......2005-07-07
Gives a good view of the Middle Eastern countries, which to the contrary belief does encompass some countries in Northern Africa.
Up to date coverage .......2004-07-23
Very recent guide to the history and politics of the Middle East. Though the title "Middle East" is a little misleading. Here, it also encompasses the countries of North Africa. The common theme is a predominent Muslim/Arabic tint. Each country gets a brief synopsis of what is usually millenia of history. Enough, hopefully, to entice you to pursue further reading. Special attention is given to Iraq. The sections on it were written in May 2004 and are probably as recent as you will find in book form, given the delays inherent in publishing. The analysis of the US invasion is sanguine. Some positive points, like the overthrow of a brutal dictatorship. Offset by what the author calls an "unremitting" struggle against guerrillas.
Book Description
In an ambitious effort to overcome the extreme fragmentation of early Southeast Asian historiography, this study connects Southeast Asia to world history. Victor Lieberman argues that over a thousand years, each of mainland Southeast Asia's great lowland corridors experienced a pattern of accelerating integration punctuated by recurrent collapse. These trajectories were synchronized not only between corridors, but most curiously, between the mainland as a whole, much of Europe, and other sectors of Eurasia. Lieberman describes in detail the nature of mainland consolidation and dissects the mix of endogenous and external factors responsible.
Download Description
This ambitious work has two novel goals: to overcome the extreme fragmentation of early Southeast Asian historiography, and to connect Southeast Asian to world history. Combining careful local research with wide-ranging theory Lieberman argues that over a thousand years, each of mainland Southeast Asia's great lowland corridors experienced a pattern of accelerating integration punctuated by recurrent collapse. These trajectories were synchronized not only between corridors, but most curiously, between the mainland as a whole, much of Europe, and other sectors of Eurasia. He describes in detail the nature of mainland consolidation - which was simultaneously territorial, religious, ethnic, and commercial - and dissects the mix of endogenous and external factors responsible. Here, then, is a fundamentally original analysis not only of Southeast Asia, but of the pre-modern world.
Customer Reviews:
Ambitious comparative history........2004-01-22
As the author explains, there are two different positions in historiography dealing with the European understanding of the world:
i) That stressing European exceptionalism (see e.g., David Landes's "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations"; [also -I think-, Angus Maddison, "Growth and Interaction in the World Economy: The Roots of Modernity "]); and
ii) another current insisting that contingency and structural constraints are the key variables (see, e.g. Kenneth Pomeranz's "The Great Divergence"; [also -I think- "The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation" by John M. Hobson, forthcoming])
Liebermans book critiques the first approach, and contributes to strengthen the second by offering structured comparisons between Southeast Asia (region routinely omitted from world histories) and France, Russia, Japan and (more briefly) China and South Asia. In that sense, Volume One of this work focuses on sustained political and cultural integration in each of the three chief sectors of continental Southeast Asia. I would point out that the author not only explains what happened in this region, but why it happened (showing with opinions full of nuances the state of the art on this matter). Nevertheless, although the content is very interesting, the book often happens to be a tough reading; therefore I have rated the book as a 4 start book (content: 5 starts; pleasure of reading: 3 to 1).
Volume two (in principle to be published by the end of 2005 or early 2006) is to argue that (in terms of linear-cum-cyclic trajectories, chronology and dynamics) mainland Southeast Asia resembled much of Europe and Japan but diverged significantly from South Asia and island Southeast Asia.
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