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.

7/7 The London Bombings Islam & The Iraq War, By: Milan Rai, Pluto Press, ISBN: 0-7453-2563-7

This is the book Tony Blair doesn't want you to read about 7/7. Using secret government documents declassified since 7/7 and leaks from British intelligence, Milan Rai exposes official deceit at the highest levels, and establishes the crucial role of British foreign policy in generating a home-grown version of al-Qaeda. Examining the backgrounds of the 7/7 bombers, Milan Rai demonstrates that Islam is not to blame. Most importantly, the book shows us how to make sure that this never happens again -- and offers brief obituaries for the 52 people who lost their lives that day.

The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future, By: Vali Nasr, W.W.Norton & Company, ISBN: 0-3930-6211-2

The Critical Stuggle Between Shia And Sunni For The Future Of The Middle East. The nations around the world struggle with the threat of militant Islam, Vali Nasr, one of the leading scholars on the Middle East, provides us with a rare opportunity of understanding the political and theological antagonisms within Islam itself. The Shia Revival is a penetrating historical account of sectarian conflicts in the Muslim world, and how the future rests in finding a peaceful solution to the ancient rivalries between the Shias and the Sunnis.

Nasr provides a unique and objective understanding of this 1, 400-year bitter struggle between the two sects–tracing its roots from the succession of the Prophet Muhammad– forcing us to differentiate the religious and theological aspect of Islam from its political and military rivalries. Outlining the rich history of a people and a vibrant culture that has spanned not only the Middle East but also modern-day Pakistan and India, Nasr explains the traditional hostilities and scrutinizes their current embodiment in the power struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia for political and spiritual leadership of the Muslim world.

Empire In Denial: The Politics of State-building , By: David Chandler ,Pluto Press, ISBN: 0-7453-2428-2

David Chandler argues that interference in the governance of non-Western states has increased, despite the West’s denial of responsibility. Addressing both students and policy-makers, Chandler shows how the international policy agenda has eroded the link between power and accountability, with disastrous consequences. By focusing on bureaucratic mechanisms of governance, Western policy-making is unable to overcome the social and political divisions of post conflict states. This results in the creation of phantom states that depend on international supervision and lack the capacity for self-government.

Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State , By: Jonathan Cook , Pluto Press, ISBN: 0-7453-2555-6

 What does Israel hope to achieve with its recent withdrawal from Gaza and the building of a 700km wall around the West Bank?

Jonathan Cook, who has reported on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the Second Intifada, presents a lucid account of the Jewish state's motives. The heart of the issue, he argues, is demography. Israel fears the moment when the region’s Palestinians – Israel's own Palestinian citizens and those in the Occupied Territories – become a majority.
The book charts Israel’s increasingly desperate responses to its predicament:
-- military repression of Palestinian dissent on both sides of the Green Line
-- accusations that Israel's Palestinian citizens and the Palestinian Authority are secretly conspiring to subvert the Jewish state from within
-- a ban on marriages between Israel’s Palestinian population and Palestinians living under occupation to prevent a right of return ‘through the back door’
-- the redrawing of the Green Line to create an expanded, fortress state where only Jewish blood and Jewish religion count
Ultimately, concludes the author, these abuses will lead to a third, far deadlier intifada.

Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development, By: Wadie Jwaideh,  Syracuse University Press, ISBN: 0-8156-3093-x

A seminal work in the field of Kurdish studies, Wadie Jwaideh’s study, published for the first time, presents a detailed analysis of the early phases of Kurdish nationalism and offers a framework in which to understand the movement's later development.

Jwaideh was born in Basra, in southern Iraq into an Arabic-speaking, Christian family who later moved to Baghdad. Because of his intimate knowledge of the land and its people, Jwaideh developed a shrewd insight into Kurdish society and politics. He convincingly demonstrates the rich historical roots of the Kurdish national movement, offering a new interpretation to the Kurdish political circumstance , which is often viewed as a series of isolated events triggered by economic upheaval or political dissatisfaction. This complex and layered history of the Kurdish nationalist movement offers a valuable perspective from which to view the current conditions in Iraq. Jwaideh’s sensitive and prescient treatment of this region gives his study great contemporary relevance.

The New Voices of Islam , By: Mehran Kamrava, I. B. Tauris,
ISBN: 1-8451-1275-x

Over the last decade, at a time when the forces of 'Islamic fundamentalism' appear to be the dominant face of Islam in the West, a vibrant and equally significant discourse has emerged from a number of prominent Muslim thinkers who wish to reformulate some of the main premises of Islamic theology and jurisprudence. The central goal of these 'New Islamists' is to reinterpret popular notions of Islam that are consistent with the tenets of modern life. Their work touches on three broad themes: Islamic hermeneutics; Islam's relationship with modernity; and the relationship of Islam with democracy and civil rights.

The thinkers whose work is showcased in this book represent some of the most notable Muslim intellectuals of our time. They include Tariq Ramadan, Abdul Rahman Abbad, Fethullah Gulen, Chandra Muzzafar, Yusuf al Qaradawy, Nasr Abu Zaid and Mohammed Arkoun. Despite their importance in their own countries, seldom before have their voices been heard by western audiences. This timely volume, which places the life, career and arguments of each thinker in their proper national and historical contexts, remedies that neglect.

My Life is a Weapon: A modern History of Suicide Bombing,
By: Christoph Reuter, Princeton University Press,
ISBN: 0-6911-2615-1

What kind of people are suicide bombers? How do they justify their actions? In this meticulously researched and sensitively written book, journalist Christoph Reuter argues that popular views of these young men and women--as crazed fanatics or brainwashed automatons--fall short of the mark. In many cases these modern-day martyrs are well-educated young adults who turn themselves into human bombs willingly and eagerly--to exact revenge on a more powerful enemy, perceived as both unjust and oppressive. Suicide assassins are determined to make a difference, for once in their lives, no matter what the cost. As Reuter's many interviews with would-be martyrs, their trainers, friends, and relatives reveal, the bombers are motivated more by how they expect to be remembered--as heroic figures--than by religion-infused visions of a blissful life to come.