On the Road to Kandahar: Travels through conflict in the Islamic world

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Description

'I have drunk beer with Iraqi poets and whisky with Indian bankers, Mecca Cola with Kashmiri militants and tea with (aspirant or failed) suicide bombers ... "Islam", I came to realize, is a label that can be applied to many things and adequately describes none of them.' A brilliant, fearless journalist who knows huge areas of the Islamic world intimately, Burke now turns to the wider question of how we are to get to grips with radical Islam and what it really means. Burke has travelled all over the great arc of Islamic land, from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, and he uses this in his new book to great effect to show how various and completely unmonolithic Islam really is and how the sort of standard Western generalizations about it are both stupid and dangerous.

Reviews

"Burke's pragmatic humanism forced the reader to rethink lazy stereotypes and the popular view of al-Qaeda as a top-down managed organization run by a megalomaniac religious Bond villain. . . . Burke's moving and insightful though-the-keyhole look into the world's biggest threat is indispensable reading for those on the right or left." --"Time Out"
"Jason Burke's . . . objective is to shatter preconceptions and generalizations about Islam. . . . He fulfils all this admirably well."-"Independent" (UK)
"An astute guide to the range and complexity of the Islamic world. . . . Burke is worth listening to."
--"The Telegraph" (UK)
"What Burke does show is the very real need to engage with political Islam. . . . This does not mean excusing terrorist acts, but it will entail a greater understanding of the spectrum of opinion that exists in the Islamic world. Burke's latest offering may well be the first step."- Leni Wile, international research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (UK)

"From the Hardcover edition."

" Vividly written. . . . His observations are sharp, and his conclusion- that extremist violence alienates its own populations and is therefore doomed to wither away- is surprising and refreshingly hopeful."
- "Scotland on Sunday"
" An astute guide to the range and complexity of the Islamic world. . . . Burke is worth listening to."
- "The Telegraph "(UK)
" Beautifully written. . . . An intensely personal and accessible story."
- "Daily Mail "(UK)
" Jason Burke' s objective is to shatter preconceptions and generalisations about Islam. . . . He fulfils all this admirably well."
- "Independent "(UK)
" What Burke does show is the very real need to engage with political Islam. . . . This does not mean excusing terrorist acts, but it will entail a greater understanding of the spectrum of opinion that exists in the Islamic world. Burke' s latest offering may well be the first step."
- Leni Wile, international research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (UK)

Praise for "Al-Qaeda":
" A must-read . . . Jason Burke' s book is the one that will last. It' s a triumph."
- "Guardian"
" Essential reading . . . The most illuminating study I know . . . gives remarkable insight into Islamic militancy."
- Noam Chomsky
" It should be compulsory reading for Rumsfeld and his clique."
- "The Evening Standard"

" An astute guide to the range and complexity of the Islamic world. . . . Burke is worth listening to."
-- The Telegraph (UK)
" What Burke does show is the very real need to engage with political Islam. . . . This does not mean excusing terrorist acts, but it will entail a greater understanding of the spectrum of opinion that exists in the Islamic world. Burke' s latest offering may well be the first step." - Leni Wile, international research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (UK)

Praise for "Al-Qaeda":
" A must-read . . . Jason Burke' s book is the one that will last. It' s a triumph."
- "Guardian"
" Essential reading . . . The most illuminating study I know . . . gives remarkable insight into Islamic militancy."
- Noam Chomsky
" It should be compulsory reading for Rumsfeld and his clique."
- "The Evening Standard"

"From the Hardcover edition."

"An astute guide to the range and complexity of the Islamic world. . . . Burke is worth listening to."
--The Telegraph (UK)
"What Burke does show is the very real need to engage with political Islam. . . . This does not mean excusing terrorist acts, but it will entail a greater understanding of the spectrum of opinion that exists in the Islamic world. Burke's latest offering may well be the first step."- Leni Wile, international research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research (UK)

Praise for "Al-Qaeda":
"A must-read . . . Jason Burke's book is the one that will last. It's a triumph."
-"Guardian"
"Essential reading . . . The most illuminating study I know . . . gives remarkable insight into Islamic militancy."
-Noam Chomsky
"It should be compulsory reading for Rumsfeld and his clique."
-"The Evening Standard"

"From the Hardcover edition."

Praise for Al-Qaeda:
"A must-read . . . Jason Burke's book is the one that will last. It's a triumph."
-"Guardian"
"Essential reading . . . The most illuminating study I know . . . gives remarkable insight into Islamic militancy."
-Noam Chomsky
"It should be compulsory reading for Rumsfeld and his clique."
-"The Evening Standard"

Author Bio

Jason Burke is the prize-winning Chief Reporter for the Observer. He has covered the Middle East and Southwest Asia for a decade, and saw many of the key events described in this book at first hand. He is the author of Al-Qaeda (Penguin, 2004).