The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror

Bernard Lewis's book is easily understandable, though this is a very complex subject. The range of his vocabulary, the pace of the language, and the voice of the reader makes this facinating subject understandable and yet a pleasure to hear. This is the very best books on current events coupled with history I have ever encountered. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Islam. Lewis was a full professor at Princeton University's Near East Studies program.

This is a succinct, compelling, and careful introduction to the world of Islam. While some seem to have a problem with the author's reading, I did not. In fact, his inflection, tone, and cadence was fitting, and I appreciated its authenticity, which is to say the degree it was connected to the meaning: it seemed distinct from "canned" professional jobs.

This is one book that I wish I had bought hard copy of. The book is read by the author, which is usually a bad idea. In this case, the author makes frequent smacking sounds as he reads, like the sound of someone sucking their dentures back into place. About 1/4 of the way into the book, I couldn't take it any longer. It's like interference that makes you change the radio station. Great book, bad audio title.

To my surprise several reviews complain about Lewis's reading of his own book--they found his voice monotonous or uninspiring. I found his gravelly old voice rich and authoritative. And he seems to know his way around the Arabic language and the Koran.

He has a keen eye for hypocrisy, and holds all sides to a consistent moral standard. He doesn't hesitate to speak plainly when he thinks a group is using religion as a pretext for indulging in irresponsible or even violent behavior. Of which unfortunately he is able to cite many examples.

The book is concise and up-to-date, so is a good choice for a high-school or college text.

This was the first book I got from Audible, and it set a high standard for future selections.

I am a Bernard Lewis fan. I think he is worth reading to compare how the media handles issues with Lewis' treatment. Other writers are more cautious when dealing with issues (for whatever reason). Lewis is tough when he criticizes Arabs and equally tough on Westerners who try to deal with Islamic peoples and their govrnments without bothering to understand them and and their governmental system. His spoken prose is also entertaining.

This book does a great job in explaining the diferences between the West and Islam. It makes the diferences between the two side clear and also shows the chalenges that have to be overcomed in order to solve a conflict of more than a thousand years. In todays world this is a very relevant book which will help to understand the issues in the Middle East and Europe

Bernard Lewis' premise is that the best example of Islam is the state of Turkey or, more precisely, a state modeled on the 'reforms' of Kemal Ataturk.
Ataturk the 'hero' of modern Turkey murdered and imprisoned thousands of Imams, sufis and religious people who did not conform to his vision of Islam. Among the 'blessings' of his reformist vision were to forbid the call to prayer in Arabic, mandating the pre-islamic name of the pagan turkic tribes for their god rather than that in the Quran, the wearing of brimmed hats by men (hats which made it impossible to pray in the prescribed muslim way) and many other 'reforms'which, in essence, made it impossible to follow the prescriptions of Islamic practice (note: I am referring to personal religious duties which have no impact on state affairs). Ataturk died of liver disease from his alchoholism - a truly great example of his 'reformed way of life'.
Since Bernard Lewis admires his vison of Islam, one can only assume that Mr lewis would like an Islam where no one actually practises; where they carry the name 'muslim' with none of the 'baggage' of adhering to the teachings (and I am not talking about radical fundamentalism here).

I chose this book because I wanted to know more about the Mideast, and particularly, about the roots of terrorism. I listened to the book over the past week and finished it a couple of days ago.

Tonite I watched the news playing the translation of another tape released by bin Laden. Having read Crisis of Islam, for the first time, I felt like I understood the history and allusions referred to in bin Laden's message.

I am going to listen to Crisis of Islam a second time to try to absorb more (and have also purchased his other book "History of the Mideast and am reading this detailed and interesting history as well).

In sum, an informative, interesting and relevant book - would highly recommend to anyone wanting to learn about the world post 9/11. By the way, I found the author's reading to be excellent, conveying the inflection and tone to match his words.

This book confirms the use of religion to cover some of the darker aspecrts of basic human nature. Like Fundamentalist Christianity, Fundamentalist Islam is used to promote and support self interests and biases of one group over another. Islam was used to justify invasion and domination just like the medieval Crusades and later invasions. This work addresses this without burying us completely in Western bias on the topic. Very edifying.

I tried. I mean, I REALLY tried to listen to this one. But man this guy nearly put me into a coma! It isn't the length, it is just out of this world mind numbing. This was the first audio book (out of 7) that really put me to sleep.

It is like listening to a monotone history lecture. If you are a history buff that enjoyed the "talking to the blackboard" lectures is college, then this is right up your alley. I just couldn't connect though, although I really wanted to. I heard the author on NPR and was really interested in the topic. I just couldnt handle the guys boring voice.