An uneven introduction to Islam.
A debut religious book offers an overview of the theology and history of Islam, from its origins through the present day.
Akbari, a native Iranian who spent most of his life in the tourism industry in Spain, offers Western readers a concise introduction to Islam in hopes that they will “wake up” and reject “politically correct” approaches to Islam and Muslim immigration. Although peppered with critical editorial commentary, the first half of the book provides a fairly straightforward outline of the basic tenets and historical developments of the religion. Topics covered include the origins of Islam, a comprehensive analysis of Sharia law, and a history of the religion through its “Golden Age.” The second half looks at the modern history of Islam, from the Iranian Revolution to the present crisis in Syria. Contrary to the arguments advanced by mainstream Western liberalism and moderate Muslims, terrorist organizations like the Islamic State group, to the author, are “the representation of true Islam and true Muslims.” Through this lens, Akbari advises that European “do-gooders” who believe in the inherent virtues of “diversity” be extremely cautious in their embrace of Muslim refugees who bring with them a religion that promotes “violence and intolerance.” To the author, Islam is inherently “fascist” and has no place in modern society. And to his critics who would label this line of reasoning “Islamophobic,” he counters that while “a phobia is an irrational fear,” the danger posed by Islam is all too real. Akbari’s ambitious book provides some lucid and rich details about various features of Islam. But many readers will be put off by the work’s polemical tone, which sees no value in most of the aspects of Islamic theology or history. This absolutist approach has the tendency to set up Islamic straw men rather than engage with a more nuanced—and more meaningful—debate. Glaringly absent from the volume’s narrative is the history of colonialism and its legacy in breeding violence in the Middle East. This heritage is one that roots much of the Muslim world’s issues not in the abstract realm of a flawed theology, but in the secular sphere of economic inequality and political instability.
An uneven introduction to Islam.Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5462-8468-0
Page Count: 396
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.
“Quality of life means more than just consumption”: Two MIT economists urge that a smarter, more politically aware economics be brought to bear on social issues.
It’s no secret, write Banerjee and Duflo (co-authors: Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way To Fight Global Poverty, 2011), that “we seem to have fallen on hard times.” Immigration, trade, inequality, and taxation problems present themselves daily, and they seem to be intractable. Economics can be put to use in figuring out these big-issue questions. Data can be adduced, for example, to answer the question of whether immigration tends to suppress wages. The answer: “There is no evidence low-skilled migration to rich countries drives wage and employment down for the natives.” In fact, it opens up opportunities for those natives by freeing them to look for better work. The problem becomes thornier when it comes to the matter of free trade; as the authors observe, “left-behind people live in left-behind places,” which explains why regional poverty descended on Appalachia when so many manufacturing jobs left for China in the age of globalism, leaving behind not just left-behind people but also people ripe for exploitation by nationalist politicians. The authors add, interestingly, that the same thing occurred in parts of Germany, Spain, and Norway that fell victim to the “China shock.” In what they call a “slightly technical aside,” they build a case for addressing trade issues not with trade wars but with consumption taxes: “It makes no sense to ask agricultural workers to lose their jobs just so steelworkers can keep theirs, which is what tariffs accomplish.” Policymakers might want to consider such counsel, especially when it is coupled with the observation that free trade benefits workers in poor countries but punishes workers in rich ones.
Occasionally wonky but overall a good case for how the dismal science can make the world less—well, dismal.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61039-950-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
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