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Books : Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror |
List Price: $15.95Amazon.com's Price: $10.85 You Save: $5.10 (32%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 320.557
EAN: 9780385515375
ISBN: 0385515375
Label: Three Leaves
Manufacturer: Three Leaves
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: June 21, 2005
Publisher: Three Leaves
Release Date: June 21, 2005
Sales Rank: 47635
Studio: Three Leaves
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In this brilliant look at the rise of political Islam, the distinguished political scientist and anthropologist Mahmood Mamdani brings his expertise and insight to bear on a question many Americans have been asking since 9/11: how did this happen? Good Muslim, Bad Muslim is a provocative and important book that will profoundly change our understanding both of Islamist politics and the way America is perceived in the world today.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
This book is a watershed in post 9/11 analysis. I am surprised that it was even published given how radically it departs from the propaganda machine of the Washington elite and the corporate media. While many experts on terrorism, Islam, and US foreign policy have discussed the US role in creating the Mujahideen and Osama Bin Laden, no one as dared to make the bold break from conventional wisdom that 9/11 is really about US foreign policy interests vis a vis the Cold War. In reading some of the other critical reviews, no one has really pointed out the weakness of this book, besides merely attaching labels like "blame America first" or "Marxists" or Terrorist Sympathizer", etc.
One of the most important contributions from Professor Mamdani is his notion of "Culture Talk" in which he takes on the intellectuals of the right who advocated the Iraq invasion and other unnecessary brutal wars against Muslim world, namely Lewis and Huntington. Mamdani, harkens back to an Edward Said critique of Lewis and Huntington. He strips away and exposes the inherent, bigoted, and racist perspective of Lewis and Huntington who under the guise of an intellectual exercise, argue that Islamic culture is so different from the West and therefore requires some action on the part of the United States and Europe to modify or alter existing Muslim societies.
He then sets out the roots causes which ultimately led to the rise of terrorism most notably al-Qaida and Usama Bin ... Read More
Rating:  -
As a British reader, it's fascinating to read all the reviews of this book which describe it as "biased". Having lived in the US for several months now, it is a constant source of astonishment to me how biased (pro-Israeli government) the US media is in covering the Israel-Palestine conflict.
I'm not just talking about the European media: Haaretz (a respectable left-wing newspaper in Israel) has the following to say about operation 'Cast Lead': "Six months ago Israel asked and received a cease-fire from Hamas. It unilaterally violated it when it blew up a tunnel, while still asking Egypt to get the Islamic group to hold its fire." (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/attack-on-gaza-as-usual-u_b_153757.html). You would never read anything like this in the mainstream US media.
So I find Mamdani's analysis to be pretty even handed and insightful. He has done the research to back up his thoroughgoing historical analysis of the conflict. I urge people to read this account to see how much of the rest of the world views the Israel-Palestine conflict and the rest of the US' 'interventions' in other nations over the past fifty years. Unlike many US citizens, the rest of the world has neither forgiven nor forgotten the US' actions, and as a Brit I know only too well that the actions of an imperial nation have consequences that last decades and affect untold millions.
Mamdani's thesis is simply this: only by understanding the historic context ... Read More
Rating: -
I went back and forth on how many stars to give this book, and I finally decided on four, perhaps against my better judgement. The first chapter of the book was amazing and that chapter, for me, alone made the book worth the time. In this one chapter he was able to formalize a lot of ideas that had been swirling around in my head from the other books I have been reading. It was a great chapter dealing with US concepts of what Muslims are and how those concepts influence our actions but are really based on a flawed and one-sided perspective. A "good" Muslim is considered someone who supports US actions even though those very same actions could be detrimental for the "good" Muslim, while the "bad" Muslim is the one who defies the US. The problem with the concept of the "bad" Muslim is that it lumps all Muslims who disagree with US policy into one group, but the fact is that some of these people are not terrorists hell bent on destroying us but instead are people who have legitimate grievances with US policy. The first chapter was excellent.
After the first chapter, though, the author flies off topic and never returns. Instead of following the first chapter's theme and the tile's theme the author spends the rest of the book critiquing US foreign policy of the last forty years. While a lot of the author's critique is legitimate and well detailed, it has nothing to do with the title of the book. The author doesn't even focus any of the remaining book on Muslims ... Read More
Rating: -
Whoever wants to talk about Islam, its political and religeous implication on modern world should read this book
The reader learns much about the origins of terrorism, which often has been orchestrated and initiated by
US-Politics and by powerfull US-organizations. I have bought this at amazon.com in it's original english-language version as well at amazon.de in a very satisfying german translation. The german paperback-edition is even much "worthier". This important book should be translated in other languages, also in arabic and hebrew.
Rating:  -
This is a tough book to review--while it does have some valid points to make, it descends all too often into polemics. And even polemics aside, the book has problems at times. Some problems that caught my attention were:
1) While Mamdani criticizes several writers for characterizing Muslims into the "good" and "bad" camps, he can equally be accused of not recognizing the differences in foreign policies between the Nixon, Reagan, Clinton and Bush administrations.
2) Mamdani takes stance that religion, politics and culture must be viewed separately and are not linked. While I would not disagree that politics can be separated from religion and culture, I have a hard time understanding his stance on separating religion and culture--the way many of us learned anthropology, religion is considered part and parcel culture. (But then again, Mamdani avoids defining culture and what constitutes it.)
3) The historical context of America's proxy wars is told in a very one sided fashion. Missing is the activities of the Soviets, and to a lesser extent the Chinese, in a variety of Third World countries. Furthermore, in terms of the rise of political Islam, terrorism and the modern concept of jihad, his account differs from Kempel's Jihad.
4) The section on the rise of al-Qaeda and the Taliban has a heavy reliance on newspaper articles from the Los Angeles Times and Rashid's book on the Taliban. Missing from his story is Burke's book ... Read More
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