Aksikas (cultural studies and Middle Eastern studies, Columbia College, Chicago) critically interrogates some of the ideologies of so-called modernity and modernization in the post-colonial Arab world, focusing particularly on the three political movements and ideologies cited in the title. He grapples with what seems to be one of the central paradoxes in the societies he studies: the rise of Islamism and fundamentalist Islamist movements at a time when global neo-liberalism has declared the end of history. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)