This timely book examines the historical roots of the
resentments that dominate the Islamic world and that all too
often have manifested themselves in acts of terrorism. Expanded
from an award-winning New Yorker article, The Crisis of Islam
looks at the theological origins of political Islam and takes
the reader through the rise of militant Islam in Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, and Iran, examining the impact of radical Wahhabi
proselytizing, and Saudi oil money, on the rest of the Islamic
world. The Crisis of Islam ranges widely across 13 centuries of
history, but in particular it charts the key events of the 20th
century leading up to the violent confrontations of today: the
creation of the state of Israel, the Cold War, the Iranian
revolution, the defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, the
Gulf War, and 9/11. 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 cro