New York Times Book Review's Islam issue

New York Times Book Review's Islam issue

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This Sunday's NYT Book Review is an all-Islam issue - reviews, essays and more dealing with Islam. From the editor's note:

New York Times Book Review's Islam issue

Islam, one of mankind's great religions, numbers 1.3 billion adherents around the world, with major communities not only in Cairo, Baghdad, Istanbul, Jakarta and Tehran, but also in London, Paris, Berlin, New York and Washington. Yet most Americans know very little about Muslims, which often means they know very little about their own neighbors. Even public officials with responsibility for our national security - powerful congressmen, top F.B.I. agents - betray an ignorance of the most basic facts about Islam, like the difference between Sunnis and Shiites.

Since 9/11, publishers have been rushing to fill this knowledge gap, and the time seems right to highlight their efforts. This special issue is by no means comprehensive (any more than a single issue of the Book Review could be comprehensive about Christianity or Judaism). It is, instead, a sampler of what is now available. It offers reviews and essays by scholars, critics and journalists of varying points of view discussing many of the most important facets of an impossibly huge subject, from history and literature to theology and politics.

.You can also see the entire issue online here.

'The Suicide of Reason'

By LEE HARRIS

Reviewed by AYAAN HIRSI ALI

Arguing that the West�s �fanaticism of reason� is no match for the fanaticism of radical Islam.

Also in This Week's Book Review

Essay

Reading the Koran

By TARIQ RAMADAN

The Book of all Muslims, Tariq Ramadan writes, can be understood on many levels.

'The Adventures of Amir Hamza'

By GHALIB LAKHNAVI and ABDULLAH BILGRAMI

Reviewed by WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

The �Iliad� and �Odyssey� of medieval Persia is presented in a hefty new English translation.

'Arguing the Just War in Islam'

By JOHN KELSAY

Reviewed by IRSHAD MANJI

A professor of religion traces the thinking behind Islamic holy war.

'The Great Arab Conquests'

By HUGH KENNEDY

Reviewed by MAX RODENBECK

How Muslims redrew the map of ancient civilization.

'American Crescent'

By HASSAN QAZWINI

Reviewed by RASHID KHALIDI

From his mosque in Michigan, a cleric argues that Muslims can be integrated into national life.

'Jihad and Jew-Hatred'

By MATTHIAS K�NTZEL

Reviewed by JEFFREY GOLDBERG

A German scholar argues that Muslim anti-Semitism can be traced to a project of the Nazi Party.

Essay

The Clash

By FOUAD AJAMI

I doubted Samuel Huntington when he predicted a struggle between Islam and the West. My mistake.

'God�s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570 to 1215'

By DAVID LEVERING LEWIS

Reviewed by ERIC ORMSBY

David Levering Lewis�s history of Arab rule in Spain focuses on its ethic of mutuality.

'Peace Be Upon You'

By ZACHARY KARABELL

Reviewed by JASON GOODWIN

Muslim rulers, Zachary Karabell says, did not force conversion upon their subjects.

'Napoleon�s Egypt'

By JUAN COLE

Reviewed by TOM REISS

A historian takes a new look at Napoleon�s invasion of Egypt.

Essay

Beyond the Burka

By LORRAINE ADAMS

Muslim women�s voices are being heard as never before. But which ones?

'Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy'

By PETER GOTTSCHALK and GABRIEL GREENBERG

Reviewed by SHIBLEY TELHAMI

A look at American media since 9/11 makes the case that Muslims have been unjustly demonized.

Caught in the Ayatollah�s Web

Review by SARAH WILDMAN

Memoirs by Marina Nemat and Zarah Ghahramani, two women who survived political prison in Iran 20 years apart.

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