Rachid Ghannouchi: A Democrat within Islamism (Religion and Global Politics) By Azzam, S. Tamimi

Review
“The face of nonviolent Islamic democracy has long been associated with the writings of the Tunisian political philosopher and activist Rachid Ghannouchi. Yet, not until the work of Azzam Tamimi has the Western world been exposed to the complexity of Ghannouchis argumentsintertwined as they are with a subtle appreciation of democracys political imperative and Islams moral authority. Through a careful use of original and secondary sources, Tamimi has provided the most detailed and fair-minded analysis of one of the Muslim worlds most articulatealbeit controversialinterpreters of political Islam and its relationship to modern democracy.” –John Entelis, Professor of Political Science, Fordham University

“This book is a serious contribution to the literature on liberal (and illiberal) trends in contemporary political Islam, and will be a useful reference.” — Middle East Journal

“This brilliant intellectual biography of a very influential Islamist thinker of our times cannot be ignored by anyone interested in the vexed question of the relationship between Islam and democracy.”–The Muslim World Book Review

Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam By Talal Asad

“This eloquent, lucid, and complex work is the product of remarkable intelligence and erudition; it is a profound contribution to the understanding of the cultural hegemony of the West.”–Ralph M. Coury, Religious Studies Review.

“All articles are extremely well written, exhibit impressive scholarship, and are thoughtful and are thoughtful and stimulating. Asad’s criticisms are neither judgmental nor self-righteous but are generally driven by the will to understand.”–James R. Wood, Contemporary Sociology.

A Border Passage: From Cairo to America–A Woman’s Journey By Leila Ahmed

In language that vividly evokes the lush summers of Cairo and the stark beauty of the Arabian desert, Leila Ahmed tells a moving tale of her Egyptian childhood growing up in a rich tradition of Islamic women and describes how she eventually came to terms with her identity as a feminist living in America.

As a young woman in Cairo in the 1940s and ’50s, Ahmed witnessed some of the major transformations of this century–the end of British colonialism, the creation of Israel, the rise of Arab nationalism, and the breakdown of Egypt’s once multireligious society. Amid the turmoil, she searched to define herself–and to see how the world defined her–as a woman, a Muslim, an Egyptian, and an Arab. In this memoir, she poignantly reflects upon issues of language, race, and nationality, while unveiling the hidden world of women’s Islam. Ahmed’s story will be an inspiration to anyone who has ever struggled to define their own cultural identity.

An Egyptian woman’s “richly insightful account of the inner conflicts of a generation coming of age during and after the collapse of European imperialism.” –The New York Times Book Review

Palestine:By Joe Sacco, Edward Saed

Fantagraphics Books is pleased to present, for the first time, a single-volume collection of this 288-page landmark of journalism and the artform of comics. Interest in Sacoo has never been higher than with the release of his critically acclaimed book, Safe Area Gorazde.

Based on several months of research and an extended visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s (where he conducted over 100 interviews with Palestinians and Jews), Palestine was the first major comics work of political and historical nonfiction by Sacco, who has often been called the first comic book journalist.

Sacco’s insightful reportage takes place at the front lines, where busy marketplaces are spoiled by shootings and tear gas, soldiers beat civilians with reckless abandon, and roadblocks go up before reporters can leave. Sacco interviewed and encountered prisoners, refugees, protesters, wounded children, farmers who had lost their land, and families who had been torn apart by the Palestinian conflict.

In 1996, the Before Columbus Foundation awarded Palestine the seventeenth annual American Book Award, stating that the author should be recognized for his “outstanding contribution to American literature,” while his publisher, Fantagraphics, is “to be honored for their commitment to quality and their willingness to take risks that accompany publishing outstanding books and authors that may not prove ‘cost-effective’ in the short run.”

This new edition of Palestine also features a new introduction from renowned author, critic, and historian Edward Said, author of Peace and Its Discontents and The Question of Palestine and one of the world’s most respected authorities on the Middle Eastern conflict.

Buy Cheap Tramadol

When Victims Become Killers

When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda By Mahmood Mamdani “When we captured Kigali, we thought we would face criminals in the state; instead, we faced a criminal population.” So a political commissar in the Rwanda Patriotic Front reflected after the 1994 massacre of as many as one million Tutsis in Rwanda. Underlying his statement is the realization that, though ordered by a minority of state functionaries, the slaughter was performed by hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens, including even judges, human rights activists, and doctors, nurses, priests, friends, and spouses of the victims. Indeed, it is its very popularity that makes the Rwandan genocide so unthinkable. This book makes it thinkable. Rejecting easy explanations of the genocide as a mysterious evil force that was bizarrely unleashed, one of Africa’s best-known intellectuals situates the tragedy in its proper context. He coaxes to the surface the historical, geographical, and political forces that made it possible for so many Hutu to turn so brutally on their neighbors. He finds answers in the nature of political identities generated during colonialism, in the failures of the nationalist revolution to transcend these identities, and in regional demographic and political currents that reach well beyond Rwanda. In so doing, Mahmood Mamdani usefully broadens understandings of citizenship and political identity in postcolonial Africa. There have been few attempts to explain the Rwandan horror, and none has succeeded so well as this one. Mamdani’s analysis provides a solid foundation for future studies of the massacre. Even more important, his answers point a way out of crisis: a direction for reforming political identity in central Africa and preventing future tragedies.