The New Crusades ─ Constructing the Muslim Enemy

Scholars in a wide range of humanities and social sciences from both worlds demonstrate that the image of Islam and the West in a state of fundamental hostility has emerged at various periods in Western history, and describe the nature of and motivation for its current outbreak. Half of the 12 essays, including one by now late Edward Said, critique Samuel Huntington's The Clash of Civilizations . The others explore such topics as the myth of westernness in medieval literary historiography, Islamophobia in France, and nationalist Serbian intellectuals. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Emran Qureshi is an independent scholar and freelance journalist. His articles and reviews have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Toronto Globe & Mail, the Washington Post, and the Guardian Weekly. He resides in Ottawa, where he is working on his next book, a study of Islam and human rights.Michael A. Sells is Emily Judson Baugh and John Marshall Guest Professor of Comparative Religion at Haverford College. He is the author of more than sixty articles and seven books, including Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations and The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in Bosnia.