Islamic Extremism: Causes, Diversity, and Challenges

M. Palmer emeritus, Florida State U.) and P. Palmer (a former consultant for the World Bank) present a primer on radical political Islam and its jihadi offshoots and a basic analysis of reactive US policy. They manage to avoid most of the oversimplifications that plague US discourse concerning the threat of jihadi terrorism. For example they note in their description of political Islamic groups, differences between Al Qaeda, who attacked the United States on September 11th, and the "radical moderates" such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Islamic Brotherhood who have deep roots in their communities and are unlikely to be effectively countered by Israeli-style full frontal assaults. They are also willing to draw distinctions between the war in Iraq and the "War on Terror," although they do seem to accept the basic premises of the latter. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Monte Palmer is professor emeritus at Florida State University. He directed FSU's Middle East Studies Center, as well as the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies at the American University of Beirut.
Princess Palmer is a former consultant for the World Bank.