Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding Book
Review: I found the book very helpful in understanding Islam and issues we in the West can no longer ignore. He does a good job of combining history as well as current situations involving Islamic adherents. He then shows how there is a continuum that exists for the last 14 centuries in their actions.It's an important and at the same time somewhat scary book that I wish everyone in the West would read.
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Summary: A critical probe of Islamic societies
Review: Islam Unveiled examines the relationship between Islamic fundamentalism and mainstream Islam, the focus on jihad and violence, and why Muslims persist in their treatment of women and polygamy. From the grim human rights record of Islamic nations to why science and high culture died out in Islamic countries, Islam Unveiled provides a critical probe of Islamic societies.
Rating: 
Summary: Islam Unveiled hits the mark
Review: I have read dozens of books on Islam and Islamic culture. Robert Spencer actually had the courage to state what I have felt for a long time. This book is must read for all people who seek the truth, and believe its okay to be critical when the need arises. Spencer is objective and focused. Read this book then read the Koran---you will see what we are up against. Highly recommended for all military personnel going into theatre right now. Active Duty Commander in U.S. Navy
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Summary: Answers the Tough Questions
Review: The negative reviews of this book are quite puzzling, and seem to be based merely on the principle that Islam should never be subject to critical examination. In fact, Spencer goes well out of his way to be respectful to Muslims, while at the same time fair to those wondering why the religion seems plagued with the sort of cultural and moral obstacles that make it inconsistent with liberal society. It is not enough to wave the magic wand, as Islam's Western defenders often do, repeat a few mantras like "Islam is a religion of peace," and hope that no one dares to raise serious inquiry, no matter how understandable. How is it, for example, that if Islam is about peace and tolerance, its most ardent followers should be acting in exactly the opposite way - and with the full support of millions? Spencer answers the questions that many of us are [quite justified in] asking by explaining the harsh edge to the theology and how it is quite plausible that those engaging in human rights abuses against unbelievers, women and others may be more in agreement with the Qur'an and Hadiths than their more moderate peers. If not, then there are many disturbing facts that need explaining away - pretending that they don't exist is simply insufficient. The book does not deserve to be called "anti-Muslim." Spencer makes every effort to leave verses in context and to provide honest comparative analysis. I was left quite hopeful, in fact, that Islam will be able make the transition that other religions have made in embracing progressive revelation as a means of freedom from a ruthless past. If you want a better understanding of the Islamic world, read this book!
Rating: 
Summary: What more is there to say
Review: That hasn't been said before. This work does a good job of scaring the ignorant of Islam. But that doesn't make it a good book. Spencer bends and distorts facts, perpetuates myths and defames characters in order to scare the public against a phenomenon that many are trying to learn about. This presents a problem since it does not give a fair or balanced view of Islam, something that is desperately needed in these troubled times. This book is one of the many that have sprung up in the post-9/11 cash in on anti-Islamic literature, and this is evidenced by the weak arguments, distorted facts, and the passages that Spencer takes out of context, and often times mistranslates. If you want to learn about Islam, there are much better books than this or it's counterparts.
Rating:
Summary: Informative, with a few reservations.
Review: ISLAM UNVEILED contains much hair-raising material about militant Islam - historical, theological, and political alike - that one is unlikely to encounter too often in other books. Spencer argues that the ancient and modern acts of barbarity and oppression he catalogs, while misdeeds when judged by modern Christian or Enlightenment values, are in fact true to the spirit of Islam and a plain reading of the Qur'an. All in all, this must be one of the most pessimistic books on the prospect of the Westernization of the Islamic world I have ever read. I would count it as too pessimistic. Spencer's contention that Christianity is substantially different than Islam in a way that makes Christianity more compatible with humanism, secular rationalism, separataion of church and state, and all of the other ideals that make the Western world so great, appears to me to be inadequate. Christianity and Islam alike are what their followers choose to make of them, and one can find virulent and progressive strains of interpretation in both. That the Islamic world has come to be dominated by the virulent strains, and the Christian world by the progressive ones, does not indicate any historical inevitability in either, nor has Spencer's analyses of the Bible and the Qur'an demonstrated the contrary (one thinks of the "plain" reading of the Christian Reconstructionists). Daniel Pipes's MILITANT ISLAM REACHES AMERICA seems to me to provide a more sober analysis than Spencer's book, taking Islamic moderates far more seriously. Indeed, one gets the sense from ISLAM UNVEILED that part of Spencer wishes moderate Islam would come to dominate, lest the humanized modern versions of Christianity lose their deep moral contrast with militant Islam and become less attractive to potential converts. Nevertheless, whatever one thinks of the conclusions Spencer draws from his data, one cannot argue with the data itself, and his well-researched book is definitely worth reading for that.
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Summary: Disturbing bur fair
Review: When I first picked this book up to read, I thought it was going to expose Islam as a faith for the crazies. That it would show Islam to be a violent and unreasonable faith. However, after reading the book, I realize that wasn't the case. Robert Spencer does an admirable job picking his way between the faith as it should be, as it was perhaps intended to be, and how it has been hijacked by various political movements today that have nothing be selfish ends in mind. Spencer looks at the faith in a number of areas, for example "Does Islam Respect Human Rights?", "Does Islam Respect Women?", "Can Science and Culture Flourish under Islam?" to name just three of the chapters in the book. He fairly exposes the truths and untruths behind the faith.
For those of us that aren't familiar with the details of Islam, this is a must read.
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Summary: Are all religions really the same?
Review: I was pleasantly surprised after reading some of the reviews of this book to see how evenhandedly the author treats Islam while still making the case that Christianity and Islam are different and in some areas teach different values.
An excellent example of this is how Spencer treats the Massacre of the Bani Qurayzah. Spencer writes "all the men of the tribe, seven hundred in all, were made to sit alongside the trenches, where the Muslims beheaded them. The women and children, in accord with what Muhammad called 'the judgment of God from above the seven heavens,' were enslaved."
Some Moslem apologists (perhaps we should call them Bani Qurayzah Massacre Deniers) claim that casualty number is inflated. But Spencer is following the best judgement of historians. His footnote refers to Martin Lings' Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources (available on Amazon) which also gives the number as seven hundred, and most sources agree on a number around seven hundred. Some say more were killed and some fewer, but this does not happen along sectarian lines. For example, Mohammed's earliest biographer Ibn Ishaq says that 600 or 700 were killed, or maybe as many as 900.
Worse still, other Muslim apologists claim that the massacre was absolutely justified as the Qurayzah had broken a pact with Muhammad, actually supporting Spencer's thesis that many Muslims feel they must continue to defend seventh century behavioral norms in a twenty-first century world.
Spencer explains that "the forthright bloodlust and barbarism of stories like these - and there are many others like them - is again not exclusive to the Muslims of Mohammed's day. Christian armies of that era behaved much the same way, particularly the Crusaders whose memory inspires Osama bin Laden and other terrorists to this day."
And that is where this book is terrific. Instead of being a whitewash of history claiming that "we" have always been good while "they" have always been bad, the author focuses on the different principles in the sacred scriptures of each faith. Jesus forbade his followers to fight when he was arrested, but the angel Gabriel told Mohammed that it would be good and just to massacre an entire village whose leaders had conspired with those who did not want to roll over for the conquering army of the Prophet of Allah.
Spencer points out that Jesus and Mohammed are very different people. Jesus and Mohammed had different answers to the questions "What is the best life?" and "What are the highest virtues?"; therefore, they founded very different religions.
There are far too many people whose whose theology was shaped in their formative years by Coca Cola's 1970's Christmas commercial, "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony." They should be first in line to study the question: Are all religions really the same? And they should read Islam Unveiled before blindly answering "yes."
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Summary: Every American Should Read This!
Review: Mr. Spencer's book presents (in my opinion) a dispassionate and objective look at Islam: both the theology, and the way it is practiced today. He does this methodically, by examining questions such as: Is Islam a religion of peace? Does Islam respect human rights? Does Islam respect women? Is Islam tolerant of other religions? ... etc. My friend, the Cultural Relativist, argues that these questions reflect distinctly Western values, and that it is unfair for us to judge a religion (or a culture) based on our values. Perhaps. But values such as individual rights, equal rights for woman, and religious tolerance are principles which are core to American culture. It seems to me what is needed today is a dialog about these values, and the degree to which Islam is compatible with these values. Unfortunately, that is not something we are likely to get from the media.
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Summary: The Religion of Peace--NOT
Review: Although most Muslims are peaceful, Islam lends itself to intolerance and violence. This very unpolitcally correct book is readable, well-researched, interesting, and frightening. Those of us privileged to grow up in the freedom-loving United States have no conception of how many in the world live. If a Muslim is true to Islam it is his duty to shun and stamp out infidels. And infidels are anyone who is NOT a Muslim. That is why democracy has failed to take hold in all Muslim countries except Turkey. There is no separation of church and state in Islam. That idea is foreign to them. All states must be theocratic states based upon the principles in the Koran. Yes, I have heard the argument that all religions have histories of violence against others, but ONLY Islam specifically encourages and exhortates its followers to kill, yes kill, infidels. If a Christian persecutes those who are not Christian, he does so against the conscripts of his faith and is condemned by other Christians. That is why we heard so few Imans condemn the September 11 bombings. Even though they may have regretted what happened, they know that the terrorists have the Koran to back them up. We are dealing with a fanatic and well-funded foe who is committed to kill every man, woman, and child in this country. We had better face up to facts and protect ourselves.
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