January 22, 2008
Morgan Norval
This is a cute sophmoric book that plays to those who can understand simplistic solution, single-point fear mongering, etcetera. While I am sympathetic to the basic premise (the Spanish finally had to issue the Expulsion Edicts to rid themselves of an unassimilable religion persistently seeking to overthrow the state), this book is too narrow to be truly useful at a strategic level. See Breaking the Real Axis of Evil: How to Oust the World's Last Dictators by 2025 and Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude.
It ignores Catholic genocide, the Catholic crusades against Islam, the high culture of both Arabic Islam and Persian Iran that preceeded European culture, eteceta.
It ignores the present day Jewish genocide against the Palestinians as well as Jewish theft of water from the Arab aquifers (the Arabs are not blameless, far from it).
Most importantly, it ignores India's success (second largest Muslim population outside of Indonesia) as well as the success of Malaysia, Turkey, and Indonesia among others, and it fails to distinguish between Islam and dictatorships or peverted roylaty such as the Saudi's to whom the US Governmetn has prostituted the Republic while they spread virulent Wahhabiism all over the world.
Bottom line: a clever book for simple people.
See instead (my reviews summarize the books if you do not wish to buy):
Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror
Wars of Blood and Faith: The Conflicts That Will Shape the 21st Century
Islamic Leviathan: Islam and the Making of State Power (Religion and Global Politics)
The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America
Religion Gone Bad: The Hidden Dangers of the Christian Right
Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction