This is the first book to address the political-philosophical dimensions of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism and offer conclusions about how the West should respond. Author biog: Paul Berman is a political and cultural critic. His writings appear in The New Republic, The New York Times and Slate, among other publications.

Reviews

"This is the best book I have read on Muslim fundamentalism and what to do about it." George Walden, The Sunday Telegraph "A fluent and lucid essay by one of America's best exponents of recent intellectual history." - The Economist. "A compelling challenge to modern liberal attitudes..." - Martin Bright, The Observer "There is much to commend in this well written polemic, not least its analysis of Islamic fundamentalism and its concern about the myopia of many left-liberal thinkers in the west." - New Statesman "Those who opposed the second Gulf War should urgently read Terror and Liberalism." The Independent on Sunday "[Berman's] is an American, pro-Jewish perspective that knee-jerk European liberals would do well to read." - Robbie Hudson, The Sunday Times.

From The Publisher:

ONE OF OUR MOST BRILLIANT public intellectuals, Paul Berman has spent his career writing on revolutionary movements and their totalitarian aspects. Here he argues that, in the terror war, we are not facing a battle of the West against Islam. We are facing, instead, the same battle that tore apart Europe during most of the twentieth century, only in a new version. It is the clash of liberalism and its enemies--the battle between freedom and totalitarianism that arose in Europe many years ago and spread in a peculiar fashion to the Muslim world.