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Rating: 
Summary: A Sense of Siege
Review: Fundamentalist Islam has been a growing presence in the Muslim world for a quarter-century, but only in the past year or two has it become a major policy issue for Americans. Should the U.S. government engage in dialogue with fundamentalist groups seeking power? Is there such a thing as a moderate fundamentalist? What steps should be taken to prevent fundamentalist-inspired violence within the United States? While many scholars and journalists have written books on fundamentalist Islam, "A Sense of Siege" may well be the first full-length study of relations between it and the West. The study offers the excitement and the flaws characteristic of such initial efforts. Fuller and Lesser take up a wide range of policy-related issues and handle them with knowledge and sophistication. For example, they note that while fundamentalists have no basic hostility to the free market, "[r]ealistically, the Islamists will face immense pressure to adopt a populist set of policies." Less impressive, the authors adopt a position of moral relativism on the matter of troubled ties between the West and the Muslim ("no one side is more right than the other") Worse yet, they urge Americans to see the fundamentalists not as power-hungry ideologues but as spokesmen for legitimate grievances; this leads them to advise in favor of a soft policy toward fundamentalism. Agree with them or not, however, Fuller and Lesser have done much to advance the debate with this insightful volume. Middle East Quarterly, September 1995
Rating:
Summary: A Sense of Siege
Review: Fundamentalist Islam has been a growing presence in the Muslim world for a quarter-century, but only in the past year or two has it become a major policy issue for Americans. Should the U.S. government engage in dialogue with fundamentalist groups seeking power? Is there such a thing as a moderate fundamentalist? What steps should be taken to prevent fundamentalist-inspired violence within the United States? While many scholars and journalists have written books on fundamentalist Islam, "A Sense of Siege" may well be the first full-length study of relations between it and the West. The study offers the excitement and the flaws characteristic of such initial efforts. Fuller and Lesser take up a wide range of policy-related issues and handle them with knowledge and sophistication. For example, they note that while fundamentalists have no basic hostility to the free market, "[r]ealistically, the Islamists will face immense pressure to adopt a populist set of policies." Less impressive, the authors adopt a position of moral relativism on the matter of troubled ties between the West and the Muslim ("no one side is more right than the other") Worse yet, they urge Americans to see the fundamentalists not as power-hungry ideologues but as spokesmen for legitimate grievances; this leads them to advise in favor of a soft policy toward fundamentalism. Agree with them or not, however, Fuller and Lesser have done much to advance the debate with this insightful volume. Middle East Quarterly, September 1995
Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read Now More Than Ever
Review: This book provides a scholarly view of the relationship between Islam and the West devoid of the biases that would prevent a critical analysis of the situation. Fuller and Lesser bring years of phenemonal experience at the CIA and the State Department. I would account the previous reviewer's low rating of this book due to his own inability to reach the top level of these guys. If you want to learn about the Middle East then Esposito, Fuller, and Glenn E. Robinson are the way to go!
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read Now More Than Ever
Review: This book provides a scholarly view of the relationship between Islam and the West devoid of the biases that would prevent a critical analysis of the situation. Fuller and Lesser bring years of phenemonal experience at the CIA and the State Department. I would account the previous reviewer's low rating of this book due to his own inability to reach the top level of these guys. If you want to learn about the Middle East then Esposito, Fuller, and Glenn E. Robinson are the way to go!
Rating:
Summary: Required Reading for the Politically Naive
Review: This is an excellent treatise on both past as well as present state of affairs/relations between Islam and the West. The author should be commended for his forthrightness and bluntness in stating these differences, very close to the level Huntington himself articulated in his Clash of Civilizations. What is important to understand is the role Saudi-funded pet projects like the American Muslim Council play for the State Dept. and for U.S.-Islamic relations. A Must read for those [who] believe that there exists no fundamental difference between the U.S. and Islam, or that any differences that do exist can simply be overcome with "dawah".
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