This is the first book on the Arab Shi'a community, a group whose identity and relations to the rest of the Middle East cut to the heart of politics and society in the Arab and Muslim world. The Arab Shi'a represent a majority of the overall population along the Arab coast of the Persian Gulf and are the largest religious group in Lebanon. Historically there have been major tensions between the Shi'a and Sunni communities. This book, based on extensive field interviews, examines the nature of Shi'ite belief and community life, contemporary political and social problems, key grievances, and...

This is the first book on the Arab Shi'a community, a group whose identity and relations to the rest of the Middle East cut to the heart of politics and society in the Arab and Muslim world. The Arab Shi'a represent a majority of the overall population along the Arab coast of the Persian Gulf and are the largest religious group in Lebanon. Historically there have been major tensions between the Shi'a and Sunni communities. This book, based on extensive field interviews, examines the nature of Shi'ite belief and community life, contemporary political and social problems, key grievances, and...

The clash of civilizations has become a common phrase in discussions of U.S.Middle East relations. This book explores the nature of the friction between the Muslim world and Western states, looking at legitimate perceptions and grievances on both sides involving historical, political, economic, cultural, psychological, and strategic elements.Arguing that Islam versus the West does not represent the arena of the next global ideological struggle, the authors examine specific issues of a bilateral nature that require careful handling to prevent the consolidation of states into opposing blocs....

The Kurds, one of the oldest ethnic groups in the Middle East, are reasserting their identity--politically and through violence. Divided mainly among Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, the Kurds have posed increasingly sharp challenges to all of these states in their quest for greater autonomy if not outright independence. Turkey's essentially democratic structure and civil society_ideal tools for coping with and incorporating minority challenge_have so far been suspended on this issue, which the government is treating almost exclusively as a security problem to be dealt with by force. For the...

September 11; vitriolic rhetoric against the United States by prominent Muslims; the war against terrorism shifts from Afghanistan to the Philippines and Indonesia. It is easy to believe Islam and Muslims are enemies of the West; it is also wrong. This sweeping survey of trends in the Muslim world contends that the issue is not whether Islam plays a central role in politics, but what Muslims want. To focus on radicalism and extremism blinds us from another trend: liberal political Islam. Proponents of liberal political Islam emphasize human rights and democracy, tolerance and cooperation....

This extremely provocative and illuminating "what if" journey through history, geopolitics, and religion investigates whether there is something unique in Islam and its followers that breeds violence and conflict. Spanning the rise of Muhammad to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire to the present day, the book examines and analyzes the roots of terrorism, the conflicts in Israel and Chechnya, and the role of Islam in supporting and energizing the anti-imperial struggle.
Fuller's startling conclusion? Contrary to the claims of many of today's most respected politicians, thinkers,...

This is the compelling tale of Luke, a Korean adoptee who comes to an American family at age one and who gradually loses his life's way-to die from crack cocaine at age 21. It is also a story of his adoptive father, a CIA officer, who offers an unsparing and vivid account of his own efforts-wise, misguided, passionate, naive, creative, ultimately unsuccessful-to save his son. Luke is warm, likeable, funny, quick to win friends-and a skilled deceiver, able to impress others with a seeming maturity and urbanity. But the image he works to create for himself is increasingly belied by the darker...