What historian decided that Alexander of Macedonia was "Great"? How do people with only an outsider's view become "cultural experts" whose views are splashed across the airwaves? How do we decide what stories are relevant to our lives? In "The Rise of Revolutionary Islam," the essays of David Grad ask - and attempt to answer - many of those same questions. Grad puts his immense base of knowledge to good use as he examines the very beginnings of "history." He looks into why it is that one of the biggest stories in Judeo-Christian history is frequently taught only once a year. And he spends...