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Conventional wisdom maintains that the differences between Islam and Christianity are irreconcilable. Pre-eminent Middle East scholar Richard W. Bulliet disagrees, and in this fresh, provocative book he looks beneath the rhetoric of hatred and misunderstanding to challenge prevailing—and misleading—views of Islamic history and a "clash of civilizations." These sibling societies begin at the same time, go through the same developmental stages, and confront the same internal challenges. Yet as Christianity grows rich and powerful and less central to everyday life, Islam finds success around the globe but falls behind in wealth and power.
Modernization in the nineteenth century brings in secular forces that marginalize religion in political and public life. In the Christian world, this simply furthers a process that had already begun. In the Middle East this gives rise to the tyrannical governments that continue to dominate. Bulliet argues that beginning in the 1950s American policymakers misread the Muslim world and, instead of focusing on the growing discontent against the unpopular governments, saw only a forum for liberal, democratic reforms within those governments. By fostering slogans like "clash of civilizations" and "what went wrong," Americans to this day continue to misread the Muslim world and to miss the opportunity to focus on common ground for building lasting peace. This book offers a fresh perspective on U.S.-Muslim relations and provides the intellectual groundwork upon which to help build a peaceful and democratic future in the Muslim world.
— Juan Cole, University of Michigan
[An] insightful book about Islam and Muslims that actually provides hope for the future.... this book is a quick, informative, and encouraging read.
A clearly written book, aimed at the general reader...requires a place on the library shelf
— Steve Young
Presents a persuasive case for viewing Islam and the West... [a]brilliant new book
— Emran Qureshi
Seeks to bridge a gap between Islam and the West... His solution is to try to patch things up by emphasizing all that Islam and Christianity have in common.
— Daniel Lazare
As Bulliet writes... there is a far better case for 'Islamo-Christian civilization' than there is for a clash of civilizations.
Offers a rich lode of penetrating insights.
— L. Carl Brown
A positive and challenging proposal, underscoring the importance of the phases we use in defining our world.
Obviously, this is an important book with the important proposal to familiarize everyone with the term "Islam-Christian civilization". Let us take heed.
— Murad Wilfried Hofmann
It deserves the widest possible readership, addressing as it does with wit and insight one of the most freighted issues of our times.
— Malise Ruthven
Bulliet's ideas are collectively imaginative and a major contribution... No reader will see the history either of Christendom or Islam in quite the same way.
— Ronald Davis
Great scholarship and vision... Bulliet offers rare insights in the Islamic and the (post)-Christian worlds.
— Johannes J. G. Jansen
An excellent touchstone... this is not a volume that should be ignored.
— John J. Curry, Ph.D.
[A] wise and wonderful book.
— Howard J. Dooley
[These essays] emanate from a fair-minded approach to strident debates - written, if you will, from the center.
Preface
Chapter 1. Islamo-Christian Civilization
Chapter 2. What Went On?
Chapter 3. Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places
Chapter 4. The Edge of the Future
Appendix
Works Cited