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Taking a serious view of the Islamic historical dimensions, this valuable book provides thought-provoking insights into the modern Islamic experience.

All over the world today - not just in the Middle East, but in much of Africa, in Southeast Asia, and within the Soviet Union - an Islamic revival is sparking revolutions, transforming regimes, and shaking the international order. What is behind this surge of actions in the name of Islam, and what kinds of societies do its supporters seek to create ?

In this major new work, the first comprehensive look at Islam as a force in public life, a brilliant young scholar, Daniel Pipes, explains the origin and nature of this demanding and all-encompassing religion. He examines the detailed programme of action prescribed by Islam and shows how it shaped the political culture shared by Muslims everywhere. With scrupulous fairness, he outlines the Muslims' immensely successful record during premodern times and their equally unsuccessful experience in the modern period.

The author concludes with an analysis of the forces that ignited the Islamic revival. In particular, he shows how, beginning around 1970, the turn to Islam was set in motion by the international boom in oil exports. The disruptive consequences of the revival and its uncertain future pose many problems for the west; whether or not these events signal a long term rejection of the west is but one of the major question this valuable book addresses.

EXCERPTS FROM BOOK REVIEWS:

Among the outstanding contributions to public-policy debates are Daniel Pipes's In the Path of God, a lively history of modern Islam and the politics it produces. - Ellen Wilson, The Wall Street Journal

A cogent study of Islam as a political force in the modern world. - CW, National Review

Scholarly, far-ranging, and thoughtful. The debate is interesting, and Pipes has made a stimulating contribution to it. - Ernest Gellner, The New Republic

Brilliant, authoritative..demonstrates encyclopedic knowledge of Muslim intellectual history. Few other writers have explained so lucidly such complex developments in Muslim history. - Thomas W Lippman, The Washington Post

This book, ambitious in its scope, eloquent in its presentation, and provocative in its judgments, is a welcome addition to the growing body of new Western writing on the interaction of politics and Islam. It offers both a comprehensive historical review and a wide-ranging contemporary survey of Islamic politics, in their doctrinal as well as practical manifestations.