Description: In this brilliant look at the rise of political Islam, the distinguished political scientist and anthropologist Mamdani brings his expertise and insight to bear on a question many Americans have been asking since 9/11: how did this happen?
Review Quotes: "Good Muslim, Bad Muslim is a necessary corrective to the hubris and willed amnesia of Cold Warriors who acted as handmaidens for radical Islamist jihadis. The harmful unintended consequences of the anti-Soviet Cold War on the Arab-Islamic world and the West have never been fully appraised until now."--The Washington Post
"This is nothing less than an exceptionally clear and, therefore, especially shocking telling of the post-Vietnam central narrative, to which the justly celebrated recent books of Richard Clarke, John Dean, Craig Unger, and Kevin Phillips are elaborations of detail."--San Francisco Chronicle "Mamdani strips open the lies, stereotypes, and easy generalizations on which U.S. policy toward the Muslim world is founded. Dismaying but essential reading."--J. M. Coetzee "This provocative and thoughtful inquiry raises hard and serious questions. It is a valuable contribution to the understanding of some of the most important developments in the contemporary era."--Noam Chomsky "Good Muslim, Bad Muslim is a brief, readable plea to Americans to stop listening to the shuck and jive about a 'clash of civilizations' and start learning some practical political history."--The Village Voice