"This is a good introduction to a very complex subject, and unlike many other books on militant Islam, it includes a wide geographical focus and examines movements that are difficult to classify in traditional political science categories as well as other that have evolved into political parties in their respective locales. The book takes the reader across Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Middle East to examine most Islamist terrorist and radical groups. Moreover, Alaolmolki (Hiram College) provides sufficient historical background and discussion of contemporary developments to enable readers to understand current militant tendencies in the Muslim world....Recommended. Upper-division under-graduates and above."---Choice<BR><BR>"Political Islam from Muhammad to Ahmadinejad: Defenders, Detractors, and Definitions Joseph Morrison Skelly, Editor<BR><BR>"These new essays deepen our understanding of political Islam and its evolution over the centuries. The treatment ranges from early origins to Islam's conflict with modernity. The contributors make a valuable contribution to scholarship about this subject, and---refreshingly---they do so without succumbing to the cliches and intellectual pitfalls that accompany much of contemporary writing about the subject."---Robert J. Lieber, Professor of Government and International Affairs, Georgetown University<BR><BR>States without Citizens: Understanding the Islamic Crisis John W. Jandora<BR><BR>"This work is more than a book for the times. An exceptional author. John Jandora provides his readers the insights of both of both scholarly interest and practical experience with the challenge of modernity in the Islamic world."---Dr. John M. Handley Professor of International Relations, Webster University Vice President for Outreach.<BR><BR>Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, America and its allies pledged to spread democracy throughout the Muslim world, and to secure its place and future in the West. But have they really succeeded in defeating jihad?<BR><BR>In Radical State: How Jihad Is Winning Over Democracy in the West, author Abigail R. Esman argues that in large measure, it is actually jihad which has emerged victorious over democracy, not only because of the actions of Muslim terrorists, but because of our own response to extremist Islam in the West. With the best of intentions, Western (European) countries have permitted antidemocratic, ultraconservative Islamic beliefs and traditions to flourish in their societies as they've responded to the influx of Muslim immigrants to their shores, largely as a result of the guest-worker programs which began in the 1960s and 1970s across Europe. But this multicultural approach has only backfired, creating cultural wars in which even the most intolerant and undemocratic of belief systems and values have been permitted, as governments have turned a blind eye to such atrocities as honor killings, anti-Semitism, the spread of literature extolling violence, and calls for the destruction of the democratic state.<BR><BR>Esman focuses her narrative on the Netherlands, oft regarded as the most free, stable, and tolerant nation in the West, the paragon of democracy and tolerance. Using Holland as an example, she demonstrates the collapse of democratic values that has occurred in other Western countries---including America---as we struggle against radical Islam. In doing so, she shows how the Western response to the threat of radicalization has at times gone to dangerous extremes, counterbalancing the multiculturalists' indulgence of radical Islam with the creation of restrictive, nearly-totalitarian laws and measures that are equally destructive and toxic to our future---to free thought, free speech, and equal rights.<BR><BR>Along the way, Esman traces the many changes that have taken place in the art world over the past decade, both among artists and museums, crafting an insightful metaphor for the deterioration of our cultural values in the West.<BR><BR>Radical State uniquely articulates the dissolution of democratic values that have resulted from the actions of both left- and right-wing approaches to the problem. More importantly, the book strives to resolve the critical question of "what went wrong"---because to set things right again requires understanding how it all broke apart---and we must set it right, or jihad's victory over democracy will be complete, and sooner than we may realize.