The War for Muslim Minds

Three new books help explain the al Qaeda movement, before and after 9/11.

Propaganda poster found by Navy Seals at an al Qaeda classroom in Afghanistan in 2002 (Fltcombatcamgrupac)

Discussion Policy

Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

Reviewed by Bruce Hoffman

Sunday, December 18, 2005

THE FAR ENEMY

Why Jihad Went Global

By Fawaz A. Gerges

Cambridge Univ. 345 pp. $27

THE GREAT THEFT

Wrestling Islam From the Extremists

By Khaled Abou El Fadl

HarperSanFrancisco. 308 pp. $21.95

100 MYTHS ABOUT THE MIDDLE EAST

By Fred Halliday

Univ. of California. 269 pp. Paperback, $12.95

"If you know the enemy and know yourself," the Chinese strategist Sun Tzu advised some 2,500 years ago, "you need not fear the results of a hundred battles." The war on terrorism has now lasted longer than America's involvement in World War II, but we still cannot claim to have fulfilled Sun Tzu's timeless admonition.

CONTINUED 1 >

Find More Reviews and Features in Books

A pandemic waiting in the wings

Alan Sipress's superb and sobering "The Fatal Strain" details the shadowy progression of a virulent avian flu now moving across Asia.

Who do men say that I am?

Though too cursory to work as an intro to the Gospels, Mary Gordon's "Reading Jesus" should appeal to anyone who wants to wrestle with the problems and paradoxes of the New Testament.