Gilles Kepel, an informed French scholar specializing in the contemporary Middle East, creates a grand social and political narrative in this slim book which links former President George Bush’s “War on Terror” with an extremist version of Islam that extols “martyrdom” as jihadists seek to take over the region. Sandwiched between Kepel’s polemic, which strives to create a sense of dependence and equivalency between the U.S.’s response to 9/11 and Al Qaeda’s motivating ideology, is a fascinating history of jihadists, their sparring across the Shia and Sunni divide, and the factional rivalries which both stunt and motivate the movement.
Kepel strives to create a third way in the clash between extremist Islam and the rest of the world. (After the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, it’s clear this is not only a struggle between Islam and the West.) His theory posits that the EU — led, undoubtedly, by the French— can act as a neutral moderator that uses economic alliances to moderate extremist Islam.
At times the book reads like stitched together lectures on jihadi history surrounded by pro-French theories that conveniently omit his country’s recent history of anti-Semitic kidnapping, murder, and synagogue attacks. And his prescriptions for peace seem unconvincing to observers of the insecurities and violence that define the region. However, his grasp of current events in the Middle East is vast and deep — and important for those who want a deeper understanding of Al Qaeda and their contemporaries. Bibliography, index, notes.
