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In this
groundbreaking book, Akbar Ahmed, one of the world’s
leading authorities on Islam, who has worked in the Muslim
world but lives in the West, explains what is going wrong
in his society by referring to Islamic history and beliefs.
Employing theological and anthropological perspectives, he
attempts to answer the questions that people in the West are
asking about Islam: "Why do they hate us?" "Is
Islam compatible with democracy?" "Does Islam subjugate
women?" "Does the Quran preach violence?" These
important questions are of relevance to Muslims and to non-Muslims
alike. Islam Under Siege points out the need for, and provides
the route to, the dialogue of civilizations...
•
The Cross & the Crescent: Christianity and Islam from Muhammad
to the Reformation
Richard Fletcher
Allen Lane, March 2003, 183 pp, £14.99
A short
account of the relations between Islam and Christianity from
Muhammad to the Reformation. The author argues that though
there were trading and cultural interactions between the two
during the period when Arabs controlled most of the Mediterranean
world, neither side was remotely interested in the religion
of the other. "Christian and Moslem lived side by side
in a state of mutual religious aversion. Given these circumstances,
if religious passions were to be stirred up, confrontation
would probably be violent". Fletcher shows how religious
misunderstanding and antagonism between "the peoples
of the book" has been present since their earliest encounters...
•
The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home &
Abroad
Fareed Zakaria
Norton, March 2003, 270 pp, $24.00, £14.99
Democracy
has reshaped politics, economics, and culture around the
world. This provocative book asks, can you have too much
of a good thing? Today we judge the value of every idea,
institution, and individual by one test: is it popular?
Or, more practically, do the majority of those polled
like it? This transformation has affected not just politics
but also business, law, culture, and even religion. Every
institution and profession in society must democratize
or die. Democracy has gone from being a form of government
to a way of life.
Like
any broad transformation, however, the trends that democracy
unleashes are not uniformly benign. Democracy has its
dark sides, yet to question it has been to provoke instant
criticism that you are "out of sync" with the
times. No more. With an easy command of history, philosophy,
and current affairs, Zakaria reinterprets our past and
outlines our future. Woodrow Wilson said the challenge
of the twentieth century was to make the world safe for
democracy. This penetrating book challenges us to make
democracy safe for the world...
•
The End of India
Khushwant Singh
Penguin, January 2003, 163 pp, $17.95
Analysing
the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002, the burning
of Graham Staines and his children and his children, the
anti-Sikh riots of 1984 and targeted killings by terrorists
in different parts of the country, Khushwant Singh forces
us to confront the extreme corruption of religion that
has made us among the most brutal people on earth. With
sections of the Indian ruling coalition openly supporting
the divisive and retrograde agenda of Hindu fundamentalists,
it is the very idea of India that is at stake. A brave
and passionate book, this book is a wake-up call for every
Indian citizen concerned about his or her own future,
if not the nation's....
•
Kautilya Today
Jairam Ramesh
India Research Press, New Delhi, 2002
This
collection of Ramesh’s columns for India Today examines
with the author’s typical intellect and wit, the economic,
social, political and intellectual concerns of India and the
wider world. Ramesh touches upon a range of topics including
federalism, exchange rate mechanisms, the failure of secularism,
the obstacles facing liberalisation, the intricacies of budget-making,
Indian agriculture, enterprise and the public sector.
• Democracy and Dictatorship in South Asia: Dominant Classes
and Political Outcomes
in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh
Robert W Stern
India Research Press, New Delhi, 2001
Stern
examines the idea of coalitions of dominant classes in South
Asia in their historical context, and explains how they relate
to current political and communal realities in many parts of
South Asia. Stern examines the cases of Punjab and Bengal and
the larger situation of democracy in India, as well as modes
of political action in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and asks whether
parliamentary democracy matters in South Asia
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