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.
