Editor's Shelf pictures the books as they appear on the shelf. It's more of an inventory of recent arrivals than any serious assesment of the book.

The Psychology of Religious Fundamentalism, Ralph W. Hood, Jr., Peter C. Hill, and W. Paul Williamson, ISBN : 1-59385-150-2
 

This book presents a new psychological framework for understanding religious fundamentalism, one that distinguishes fundamentalist traditions from other faith-based groups and helps explain the thinking and behavior of believers. Steering clear of stereotypes, the highly regarded authors offer respectful, historically informed examinations of several major fundamentalist groups. Focusing primarily on Protestant sects, including the Church of God (a Pentecostal denomination), the serpent-handling sects of Appalachia, and the Amish, the book also discusses Islamic fundamentalism. Addressed are such key themes as the role of the sacred text within fundamentalism; how beliefs and practices that many find difficult to comprehend actually fit into coherent meaning systems; and how these meaning systems help meet individuals' needs for purpose, value, and self-worth.

The Victors and the Vanquished, Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050–1300, Series: Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series , Brian A. Catlos, University of California, ISBN: 0-521-82234-3

This is a revisionary study of Muslims living under Christian rule during the Spanish ‘reconquest’. It looks beyond the obvious religious distinctions and delves into the subtleties of identity in the thirteenth-century Crown of Aragon, uncovering a social dynamic in which sectarian differences comprise only one of the many factors in the causal complex of political, economic and cultural reactions. Beginning with the final stage of independent Muslim rule in the Ebro valley region, the book traces the transformation of Islamic society into mudéjar society under Christian domination. This was a case of social evolution in which Muslims, far from being passive victims of foreign colonisation, took an active part in shaping their institutions and experiences as subjects of the Infidel. Using a diverse range of methodological approaches, this book challenges widely-held assumptions concerning Christian-Muslim relations in the middle ages, and minority-majority relations in general.

• Makes an original and important contribution to the comparative study of Islamic and Christian medieval society
• Includes a novel series of case-studies which detail the daily lives of particular figures of the era
• Covers a wide time-span and a wide range of topics including social, economic and political history, and socio-logical/anthropological theory

The Islamic Middle East: Tradition and Change, By: Charles Lindholm,Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 1-4051-0146-6

The Islamic Middle East is a rare, thought-provoking account of the origins, nature, and evolution of Islam that provides a historical perspective vital to understanding the contemporary Middle East.

The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State, By:
Hugh Kennedy,Routledge,ISBN: 0415250935

During the Medieval period, the Middle East was a battleground in which the Umayyad and the Abbasids Caliphs fought for dominance of an empire that stretched from Spain to the borders of India. The Armies of the Caliphs is the first major study of the relationship between army and society in the early Islamic period, and reveals the pivotal role of the military in politics.

Over the key period of 600-945, the Muslims developed a salaried, semi-professional army, dependent on the state for its livelihood. In this extraordinary survey, Kennedy shows how the army began to influence and eventually dominate the political system, and reflects on how the involvement of the military in Middle Eastern politics today has its origins in this period.

Through an examination of recruitment, payment, weaponry and fortifications in the armies, The Armies of the Caliphs offers the most comprehensive view to date of how the early Muslim Empire grew to control so many people. Using Arabic chronicles, surviving documents, and archaeological evidence, this book analyzes the military and the face of battle, and offers a timely reassesment of the early Islamic State.
 

Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination by Ebrahim Moosa, The University of North Carolina Press, ISBN: 0-8078-5612-6

Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, a Muslim jurist-theologian and polymath who lived from the mid-eleventh to the early twelfth century in present-day Iran, is a figure equivalent in stature to Maimonides in Judaism and Thomas Aquinas in Christianity. He is best known for his work in philosophy, ethics, law, and mysticism. In an engaged re-reading of the ideas of this preeminent Muslim thinker, Ebrahim Moosa argues that Ghazali's work has lasting relevance today as a model for a critical encounter with the Muslim intellectual tradition in a modern and postmodern context.

Moosa employs the theme of the threshold, or dihliz, the space from which Ghazali himself engaged the different currents of thought in his day, and proposes that contemporary Muslims who wish to place their own traditions in conversation with modern traditions consider the same vantage point. Moosa argues that by incorporating elements of Islamic theology, neoplatonic mysticism, and Aristotelian philosophy, Ghazali's work epitomizes the idea that the answers to life's complex realities do not reside in a single culture or intellectual tradition. Ghazali's emphasis on poiesis--creativity, imagination, and freedom of thought--provides a sorely needed model for a cosmopolitan intellectual renewal among Muslims, Moosa argues. Such a creative and critical inheritance, he concludes, ought to be heeded by those who seek to cultivate Muslim intellectual traditions in today's tumultuous world.

The Geographies of Muslim Women: Gender, Religion, and Space ,Edited by Ghazi-Walid Falah and Caroline Nagel, The Guilford Press, ISBN: 1-57230-134-1 Kurds and the State Evolving National Identity in Iraq, Turkey, and Iran, By: Denise Natali, Syracuse University Press, ISBN : 0-8156-3084-0

This groundbreaking volume explores how Islamic discourse and practice intersect with gender relations and broader political and economic processes to shape women's geographies in a variety of regional contexts. Contributors represent a wide range of disciplinary subfields and perspectives--cultural geography, political geography, development studies, migration studies, and historical geography--yet they share a common focus on bringing issues of space and place to the forefront of analyses of Muslim women's experiences. Themes addressed include the intersections of gender, development and religion; mobility and migration; and discourse, representation, and the contestation of space. In the process, the book challenges many stereotypes and assumptions about the category of "Muslim woman," so often invoked in public debate in both traditional societies and the West.