<i>The Star, the Cross, and the Crescent</i> examines how Francophone writers from the Maghreb and the Near East represent the intertwining of religion and politics in various disputes, such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Lebanese and Algerian civil wars, the affair of the Muslim headscarf in France, and 9/11. It analyzes fiction, films, comic books, autobiographical narratives, and essays from the Arab world against the backdrop of the current international political context of Islamic fundamentalism and Western prejudices against Islam.