The Rage and The Pride

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Summary: Free thinker with deep feelings and a real expression
Review: Oriana Fallci discusses her attitude twards Islam in light of September 11th and contemporary events. What makes Oriana Fallaci so special for me is that she is a liberal, leftist, in the old European sense that doesn't belong politically to anybody and thinks for herself. She got tremendous knowledge in her disposal and a life experience thousand times of mine. Her emotional capacity is compared with her intellectual and they both compliment each other. Since I started reading this book I couldn't put it down accept when it gets too overwhelming.

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Summary: Fallaci Speaks Up
Review: Fallaci serious rants in this book. It is also very poorly written. But, this is because she wrote it in Italian and then translated it in to English herself. However, I enjoyed reading it. It is her mind, her soul, her rage, and her pride poured out on paper, but not corrected, not prettied up, and unaltered. This is acutally quite refreshing seeing as how every book on the face of the earth needs to be absolutely perfect before it can be put on teh market. I enjoyed reading something as raw as Fallaci's The Rage and The Pride.

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Summary: Oriana's Righteous Rage
Review: This is a book for ignorant hypocrites that opposed the war on Iraq. This book is for the most enlightened people to laugh at the bigotry of the European leaders. This book is almost 200 pages full of mockery and harsh realistic points that we try to repress. Soul-Opening. I reccomend it to everyone who is human!

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Summary: Much Rambling and Shreiking
Review: The Rage and the Pride is a lot of street-corner yelling from Oriana Fallaci. The book is the product, she says, of a severe emotional outburst. It is severe, as it affects our sensibilities when we are done reading this book. The book is preceded by a boring, long winded and thoroughly pointless Introduction where she lanuches into self-deluded passages on why she wrote the book, and why she is right. She starts off the book by catalouging her feelings of grief and misery as she saw the twin tower collapse on 11th september, 2001. But from here on, she proceeds to shreik on the Arabs, thier boorishness, the (lack of) culture and how they are being a ... plague on the world.
She then critizes the Italian government in specific and the Europe in general for allowing the Arabs to populate Europe and "soil" its culture.
Qutie disgusting, really.
Being a veteran journalist, Ms. Fallaci should restrain from these immature and spiteful ramblings and should instead present her case in a more intellectual and structured fashion.
Moreover, this book is translated from Italian by the author herself, and the translation is [weak]. It reinforces the feeling that you are standing in a crowded street corner and listening to a raving, shreiking hag denouncing the people she hates.
If you of Arab or [a religion], please do not read this book. Ms. Fallaci is quite venemous when she is speaking about the Arabs and thier sympathisers. She is also very insultinf about Islamic art and culture, which i think is totally unacceptable.
Overall, worth giving a miss. If you dont have to necessarily read it, dont.

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Summary: Message comes through loud and clear despite style problems
Review: This book is a polemic. It is not nor is it intended to be a historical exposition of Western and Islamic civilization. In order to read this book, you must choose sides. Woe to those that choose against Western civilization for they destroy the ground on which they trod.

The translation and style is difficult and at times quite crude. But nonetheless, the message comes through loud and clear. It is not a hopeful book, and some people will not find it "useful", but, as a declaration of first principles, it works. It is a cry from the heart, a shot across the bow. Take heed.

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Summary: Authentic Emotional Outburst on Current Events
Review: Ms Fallaci writes both with her heart and mind, what she calls a "sermon" but which is more like a "stream of consciousness" response to Islamic fundamentalism and its incompatibility with Western/modern life. She defends freedom and admires the response of the citizens of the USA, her adopted country, when it was attacked senselessly by the terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. She briefly mentions how she played a part in fighting fascism in Italy during World war II. She gives us some background of how she became a reporter and writer. From there, she takes us on a journey into her complex mind and emotions. She reveals the contradictions and hypocrisies of Islamic fundamentalism. She describes the incongruites of many movements, wars and rebellions to which she was an eye witness. She mentions the hypocrisies of the local government in her own homeland, Florence, Italy. She is enraged by inconsistency of doctrine, hypocrisy, and violence, used to subjugate human beings. It is necessary to read and reread the book many times to understand the many subtle and obvious points she drives home, again and again, with examples from civil wars, rebellions, and skirmishes from around the globe. The book is jam packed with facts and information, that only a citizen of the world, such as she is could provide. This is an excellent book. It is written from a personal point of view but contains universal truths about current events. She is against oppression that is very clear. She enjoys and loves her freedom and is willing to fight for it.
Erika B.

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Summary: Irresponsible and full of spite
Review: I am an American, not Muslim, but I find the subject and tone of this book reprehensible.

For those of you that don't know, Ms Fallaci was a rabidly anti-American journalist for most of her career, spewing as much bile she could about the US and its policies as she could. She even sang the praises of the Ayatollah Khomeini, and is considered a hero (officially, at least) in post-revolutionary Iran.

Now she has made a 180-degree turn and lavishes unending praise on the US (her new home) and says the most insulting things about Muslims everywhere. Supposedly most are terrorists or criminals, and those who are not still support them. Her nonsensical claim that all worldwide Muslims have a conspiracy to take over the West is backed up by claims that Muslims "relieve themselves" over every monument they see in Western Europe.

And some of you have the audacity to say that she's one of the world's best journalists?! According to whom?

As I stated before, I'm an American, Christian, and actually I've been consistently in favor of the war against Iraq. And, of course, like anyone with a brain, I'm against terrorism of any sort. But this kind of garbage, that conveniently paints the adherents of an entire religion with one broad, insulting stroke, is doing no-one any good.

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Summary: blind rage
Review: Most possibly out of plain frustration, Mrs. Fallaci has produced some real .... which goes on and on, cursing Muslims altogether, although the book is advertised as a rage against political islam and the fundamentalist terorists. That is not the case at all, Fallaci spends 20 pages (pages 130-150) sharing with us her deep disgust of muslim immigrants "breeding gloriously" in Italy. She is so out of facts and any kind of historical reasoning that I am astonished when peole talk about her intellect. All along the book she sounds like an old "b..ch" who lost her sanity because something very bad happened.

She refers to the 18 American soldiers killed in Somalia while they were on a raid to capture some Somalis they don't like as "Peace Force Marines", whereas those late gentlemen were Special Army Rangers. (page 129).

She talks of Bin Laden's Iraq when Bin Laden hates the brutally secular Saddam as hell.

She claims the Spanish who settled in Naples forgot that they were Spanish (page 144) and became Neapolitans and their identity is in no way influenced by Moslem world. It is laughable that Spanish people who lived under Moor occupation for 700 years forgot any Arabic influence just to become Neapolitans.

Mrs. Fallaci puts nothing on the table to be taken seriously..a very sad end to a fairly succesful career.

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Summary: Remember that it is not a scientific book.
Review: I haven't read the entire book yet, only a chapter (no. 4 I think) that was published in a newspaper here. Yet, based on what I've read, I'd like to make a comment.

I am a student for studies of Islam and Middle East in Israel. One of the first things we learned is that Islam has many faces. If you want to have a fanatic, Anti democracy, that supports a physical Jihad, you could find the support for it in the Qura'an, but you could also find the exact opposite. Islam have the seeds of goodness and democracy in it, you just need to let it grow.

I find Fallaci's approach somewhat Orientalist. (In the way Edward Said reffers to it. I don't agree with all the things he says in his book, "Orientalism", yet, it fits here.) She is talking about Islam in general, without, in what I've read, deffering between different schools-Suna and Shia'a, different approaches or even different areas of the Muslim world. Her view upon Islam in general is based only on the fanatic sides of it, that she had met.

About the culture in Islam, or should I say The lack of culture she claims it has, I disagree. Art, History, Literature, Philosophy, Medicine and sciences had developed in the Muslim world and effected the Western culture. Besides, one of the worst things one can do is to judge a culture in the terms of his own culture.

I am going to buy and read this book. Just for curiosity. May I remind you, though, that this is not a scientific book, it is a book written by a woman that had met only the fanatic sides of Islam, whose motivation to write this book was the most shocking act of terror ever. Remember that this book is written in anger, that it is very emotional and that she is not a researcher, it is not an objective and scientifically proven book, for that, you need more perspective than that we have on the 9/11 events.

If this book is a warning, so be it. I will take it to my attention and try to keep my eyes open. Yet, as an Israelian, who sufferes from terror and fear on a daily basis, here's an advice to all the readers of this book and the likes of it: Don't let the pain, anger and hatard blind you. If you'll be blind to the good sides of Islam, you will think that there is no choice but to open a war, and would do nothing to prevent it. Always hope for peace, even when your mind screams: 'God, we should just bomb them all off the planet', and most of all never, ever forget that Muslim, Christian of Jewish, White, Black, Yellow or Red, we are all humans. We all have fathers mothers that loves us, and children that we would rather die before seeing them suffer, we all feel sadness, happiness and pain, and we all, most of all, want to live and have a right to live our life in peace and happiness. May God, Jesus, Allah, Buddha, or whoever that is sitting up there will bring the peace to this world soon.

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Summary: From Politics to Religion.....!!!
Review: 4 stars that you i have given to this book are primarily bcoz of the fallaci's intellect and her quality of speaking her mind as clearly as one can. Otherwise, this book brought a disappointment and i hardly kept myself from dismentling the image i had built and the reverance i had attached to Fallaci's work in the prior to this book. I must admit that before reading this book, i took her wrong in one sense, i thought perhaps she is critical to american policies specially foreign policies but loves the idea of united states as place worth living for its characteristics such as liberty, freedom, equality, justice, etc..etc...and to be honest, i too feel the same way....i.e. seperating the U.S. Constition from the actions of U.S. Governments over past 50 years!

But reading this book made it pretty crystal clear that Fallaci defends and loves the US imperialist and interventionist soul as well, and in the course of doing so has the capability of overlooking all the historical facts, events and causes that could lead to a dreadful event such as 9-11, and very much like an ordinary american, moved by media filled anger, fear and hate spurts out out-ragiously.

I would have liked this book better if published by Home Land Security Agency with the author's name as Tom Ridge...!!!

Take a few minutes and compare it with "9-11" by Noam Chomsky