Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Why There Are So Few Muslim Terrorists Chapter 2. Radical Sheik Chapter 3. Thoroughly Modern Mujahedin Chapter 4. Liberal Islam vs. Revolutionary Islamism Chapter 5. The Demand Curve for U.S. Foreign Policy Chapter 6. Predicting the Next Attacks

About the Author

Charles Kurzman is a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. His books include Democracy Denied and The Unthinkable Revolution in Iran.

Reviews

"Kurzman's book is a contribution to the study of Al Qaeda and Islamism." - New York Times Book Review



"Kurzman provides a significant answer to a question that needs to
be addressed: in a world of more than a billion Muslims, why are there
so few Muslim terrorists? So much attention is given by policy makers
and media experts to the small number of extremists that Kurzman's
crucial question is too often ignored. For anyone interested in reducing
the threat of global terrorism, this study is required reading." -John
Voll, Professor of Islamic History, Georgetown University



"The best scholarship asks uncomfortable questions, and then
attempts to provide trenchant answers. Charles Kurzman has asked: why
does fear of terrorism persist, despite the meagre number of actual
casualties caused by those who claim to be Islamists or violent jihadi
warriors? His answer is as bracing as it is counterintuitive: media need
to tune down the obsession with violent episodes, but the American
public also needs to clamor for an open, honest debate about terrorism.
This book is a hard-headed manifesto, calling for a return to
pragmatism, with more reliance on academics and less on interest-driven
think tanks engaged with Middle East politics." -Bruce B. Lawrence,
co-editor, with Aisha Karim, of On Violence: A Reader