Is There An Islamic Problem? Essays on Islamicate Societies, the US and Israel By M. Shahid Alam

ISBN No. 9839541439
Published by The Other Press (2005)
240 pages; paperback
Price: S$20
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The essays in this book explore the underground history of September 11. They tell the history of our times, reported from the trenches (so to speak), from Palestinian camps under the siege of Israeli tanks, from the ruins of Iraq's civilian infrastructure mangled by American cruise missiles, from the Twin Towers taken down by 19 Arab hijackers.

They connect the present to the past, the dispossessed Palestinians to the history of their dispossession, the destruction of Iraq to American empire and the Zionist project, the disequilibrium in Islamicate societies to the history of their dismemberment, the Islamicate resistance to the human instinct for self-preservation. In other words, these essays are about the malformations and misadventures of global capitalism in one vital sector of the world - the Islamicate societies, now nearing a quarter of the world's population. These essays also explain why this sector now leads the struggle against Western hegemony - as the East Asians did in the 20th century.

About the author

M. Shahid Alam is Professor of Economics of Northeastern University, Boston. His writings have appeared in leading economics journals, including American Economic Review, Cambridge Journal of Economics and Kyklos. His other works include Poverty From The Wealth Of Nations (2000).

What others say

"M. Shahid Alam's enterprise of forcing "the legacies of history" into "the daylight of consciousness" in the West is informed by deep understanding of the cultural and economic history of Islamic and European societies, and of influential contemporary scholarship and debate. The analysis is careful and serious, and will be of considerable value to anyone concerned with the crucial and timely issues that Alam addresses, whether they come to agree with his conclusions or not."
- Noam Chomsky
Professor of Linguistics, MIT, USA

"In the face of race-baiting, bigotry and official hysteria, M. Shahid Alam offers reason, analysis and genuine compassion for those who have been steamrolled by the imperial machine as it rampages across the globe. This urgent collection of essays proves that clear and courageous writing can still be a powerful force for change."
- Jeffrey St. Clair
Co-Editor, CounterPunch.org


Click here: Did Thomas Friedman Flunk History?, by M Shahid Alam.

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