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Insightful and brilliantly written, this book provides the reader with a full understanding of one of the most unexpected and significant events in recent years.

This book explains why the publication of The Satanic Verses became a cataclysmic event, with far-reaching consequences. Never has a book sparked such international controversy and following were some of the results:

** An edict by a head of state calling for the assassination of a foreign author

** Riots, bombings, and assassinations resulting in the death of twenty people

** A threat of censorship hitting at the heart of the West's belief in freedom of expression

** Even a clash of civilizations - that of the fundamentalist Muslim versus the free-thinking Westerner

The author explains what the fundamentalists perceived, and what the novel actually said, that proved so offensive to some Muslims. In fact, for many, the novel's title was enough to enrage them without ever reading the text. He further explains how Rushdie's book created a new crisis between Iran and the West - disrupting international diplomacy.

He also spells out the chilling, long term implications of the crisis. If the Ayatollah so easily intimidated the West, can others now do the same? Can millions of fundamentalist Muslims now living in the United States and Europe possibly be assimilated in a culture so alien to them? Events surrounding Rushdie's book could have a major impact on the future of our civilization.

CONTENTS: Half a Year of Upheaval / Rushdie: A Man of the Left / How is the Book Blasphemous? / Blame Rushdie for the Furor? / Khomeini's Edict / Why Fundamentalist Muslims Picked on Rushdie / A Great Conspiracy Against Islam / Muslim Responses to Khomeini / Western Responses to Khomeini / Iran's Shadow in the West / Censorship and Its Costs / Muslims Living in the West / Concluding Thoughts / Appendix + Glossary + Index