Volume 50, Number 10 · June 12, 2003
Which Way to Mecca?
By Clifford Geertz
AMONG THE BOOKS DISCUSSED IN THIS REVIEW
What Went Wrong? The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East
by Bernard Lewis
Perennial, 186 pp., $12.95 (paper)
The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror
by Bernard Lewis
Modern Library, 184 pp., $19.95
Islam in a Globalizing World
by Thomas W. Simons Jr.
Stanford University Press, 111 pp., $14.95 (paper)
The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict Between Islam and Christianity
by M.J. Akbar
Routledge, 272 pp., $25.00
Islam: A Short History
by Karen Armstrong
Modern Library, 222 pp., $10.95 (paper)
We are, in this country right now, engaged in the process of constructing, rather hurriedly, as though we had better quickly get on with it after years of neglect, a standard, public-square image of 'Islam.' Until very recently, we had hardly more than the suggestions of such an image—vagrant notions of stallions, harems, deserts, palaces, and chants. A Peter Arno drawing in The New Yorker sixty-five years ago more or less summed the matter up. A stetson-hatted tourist leans out of his roadster to ask a turbaned man prostrate in prayer by the side of the road: 'Hey, Jack, which way to Mecca?'
Review, 4407 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |