Islam

If you are as confounded about Islam as I am, then I suggest you read Malise Ruthven's marvelous review of four new books on the subject in this week's Times Literary Supplement. Before September 11 Huntington, Said, Fukyama and Bloom could discuss the clash of civilizations -- pc for judeo/christians vs. the muslims -- in high degrees of abstraction. Now it is a direct threat to us. Terror has made its mark. Ms. Ruthven's rather brief but elegant review puts much in perspective. She lays the foundation of the religion; expounds on its many cultural accomplishments and explains the extraordinary fashion in which political and economic problems have found their current voice within radical Islam. A superb brief review of an enormously complex matter Weekly book reviews and literary analysis from the Times Literary Supplement