Islamic Fundamentalism

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but too short
Review: This book is a short (80 pages excluding the title page, notes and index) look at Islam. It looks at Islam's torturous relationship with the West, and then discusses the histories of Egypt, Iran, Algeria and Sudan, as it relates to Islam. At the end, there is a quick discussion of Islam and democracy, within the context of fundamentalism.

Overall, this book is quite interesting. However, its brevity does seem to prevent the author's separating out fundamentalist Islam from other (mainstream?) branches. As such, the reader is left wondering if the author is suggesting that fundamentalist Islam is Islam. Perhaps that is the authors point, I really can't say.

But, I will say that it is a good book, giving the reader a quick understanding of modern Islam. I give this book a rather guarded recommendation.