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 Revenge of God: The Resurgence of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism in the Modern World, By: Gilles Kepel, The Pennsylvania State University Press, ISBN: 0-271-01314-1

In this translation of the best-selling French book, La Revanche de Dieu, Gilles Kepel, one of Europe's leading authorities on Islamic societies, offers a compelling account of the resurgence of religious belief in the modern world. His focus is radical movements within Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

According to Kepel, we have much to learn from today's religious movements. Like the workers' movements of yesteryear, they have a singular capacity to reveal the ills of society. Whether or not we agree with their diagnoses, they offer an important and perceptive critique of our society at the end of the millennium.

The Challenge of Fundamentalism Political Islam and the New World Disorder , By: Bassam Tibi, Unversity Of California Press,
ISBN: 0-520-23690-4

Long before the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Islamic fundamentalism was exerting a significant influence in nearly every corner of the world. Bassam Tibi, a widely recognized expert on Islam and Arab culture, offers an important and disquieting analysis of this particular synthesis of religion and politics. A Muslim and descendant of a famous Damascene Islamic scholar family, Tibi sees Islamic fundamentalism as the result of Islam's confrontation with modernity and not only--as it is widely believed--economic adversity. The movement is unprecedented in Islamic history and parallels the inability of Islamic nation-states to integrate into the new world secular order.

The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict between Islam and Christianity, By: M. J. Akbar, Routledge, ISBN: 0415284708

 In The Shade of Swords--the first cohesive history of Jihad - Akbar considers how Jihad's origins lie in the earliest consciousness of Muslims, as witnessed in the miraculous victory of the Prophet's outnumbered troops at Badr. From Muhammed to the Assassins, and from the collapse of the Moghul and Ottoman empires to the modern struggle for Palestine, Akbar's story explains how Jihad thrives on complex and shifting notions of persecution, victory and sacrifice, and how Muslims themselves have historically tried both to direct and to control the phenomenon of Jihad. The power of Jihad, and thus of the Taliban today, pervades the mind and soul of Islam. Its plural meaning as simultaneous mass and private sentiment is its true strength and significance.

Islam In The Digital Age: E-Jihad, Online Fatwas and Cyber Islamic Environments, By: Gary R. Bunt, Pluto Press, ISBN: 0-7453-2098-8

The Internet is an increasingly important source of information for many people in the Muslim world. Many Muslims in majority and minority contexts rely on the Internet -- including websites and e-mail -- as a primary source of news, information and communication about Islam. As a result, a new media culture is emerging which is having a significant impact on areas of global Muslim consciousness. Post-September 11th, this phenomenon has grown more rapidly than ever.

Gary R. Bunt provides a fascinating account of the issues at stake, identifying two radical new concepts, firstly, the emergence of e-jihad  and secondly, religious authority on the Internet -- including the concept of on-line fatwas and their influence in diverse settings.

EASTERN CAULDRON: Islam, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq in a Marxist Mirror, By: Gilbert Achcar, Monthly Review Press,
ISBN: 1-58367-095-5

The route to any coherent understanding of our time runs through the issues addressed in this collection of essays: the political meaning of Islam, the relation of the West to the Islamic world, the new form of imperialism signaled by the Soviet and U.S. occupations of Afghanistan, the intractable conflict over Palestine. In confronting these inescapable issues global power is being reshaped and the ends for which it will be used are being decided.

This volume brings together Gilbert Achcar's major writings on these issues over the past decades.

Countdown to Crisis : The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran,
By: Kenneth R. Timmerman, Crown Publishing (Random House),
ISBN: 1-4000-5368-4

In his chilling new book, New York Times bestselling author Kenneth R. Timmerman blows the lid off the greatest threat America faces: the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Using his exclusive access to previously classified documents, Iranian defectors and officials, and high-level sources in the U.S. government and intelligence community, Timmerman blows the lid off previously unreported threats and our intelligence community's failure to deal with these dangers.