Can you have the same Europe with different people in it? The answer, says Christopher Caldwell, is no.
Europe has undergone a dem...
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Oct 14, 2011
Sophia
rated it: 
Reflections on the revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West was a challenging book for me to read. It took a lot of effort to keep in mind that author Christopher Caldwell considers himself "instinctively pro-immigration" based his analysis of how mass immigration has shaped post-war Europe. Caldwell is essentially saying that based on overestimation of its long-term need for immigrant labor, European countries opened a Pandora's box through which masses of Muslim immigra
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Oct 02, 2010
Nick
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jul 28, 2010
Ann
rated it:
Very well-researched, thought-provoking, and frankly frightening book on the future of Europe. WIll a Europe of declining native demographics and relativistic culture be able to assimilate the ever burgeoning Muslim immigration or will, as Princeton Islamic scholar Bernard Lewis suggests, Europe be a part of the Arabic west by the end of this century? Caldwell points out that for the past 1,400 years the West and Islam have been at odds; the only exception to that has been the period in the 2
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May 09, 2010
Asher
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Caldwell’s book has been one of the most interesting, well researched, thought provoking, and frightening books I have read in quite awhile. Besides commentating on the economic problems, the rise in crime because of Muslim immigration, and the threat of terrorism related to Muslim immigrants. Caldwell presents a moral and philosophical argument against immigration.
“When an insecure, malleable, relativistic culture meets a culture that is anchored, confident, and strengthened by com More...
“When an insecure, malleable, relativistic culture meets a culture that is anchored, confident, and strengthened by com More...
Mar 24, 2010
Erik
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Cladwell’s ideas and detailed research on the effects that late twentieth-century Muslim immigration has had on Europe is a well-conceived and, for any Westerner who reads it with an open mind, uncomfortable read about the inherent cultural schism which festers in this twenty-first century. He points out quite early that what has attracted and fostered belligerent Muslim identities in Europe are exactly those Western values which postwar Europe established – which the founders of modern Europe c
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Mar 21, 2010
Steve
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The more time you spend with Christopher Caldwell and his all-over-the-map musings on his conviction that we should all be afraid, very afraid, of the danger presented by each and every Muslim in the world, the more you start to wonder if he is not in fact playing some kind of Stephen Colbert angle here.
Like the great Colbert himself, Caldwell can drone through an extended passage of what sounds like serious analysis as he explores his thesis that godless Europeans basically have no More...
Like the great Colbert himself, Caldwell can drone through an extended passage of what sounds like serious analysis as he explores his thesis that godless Europeans basically have no More...
May 08, 2011
Jake
rated it: 
There should really be an option on goodreads for "Couldn't finish because it was so bad". This poorly researched piece of gargabe is not worth the paper it is printed on. I couldn't finish it. 100 pages in and I'd had my fill of unsubstantiated, anti-Islamic, anti-immigrant, and homophobic, rubbish. As a suggestion to the author: You CAN claim that 50 percent of inmates in a France's jails are Muslim. That might even be true. Furthermore, you CAN claim, as on page 63 that immigrants f
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Jul 30, 2011
Rebecca
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I don't know if I can/should rate this book. I didn't comprehend most of it as it was a subject I thought would be more interesting but it kind of wasn't. The book was very well written and the flow was great, which is why I want to rate it, but I was like so board flipping through it. I couldn't wait for it to be over. I like that it was very current as well. And if you are interested in this topic of immigration in Europe, especially Muslims and stuff, then I highly recommend this book. I like
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Sep 02, 2009
Brian
rated it:
The phenomenon of mass immigration waves (muslim followers in particular) into Europe and the attendant effects on culture, crime, demographics of Europe
While informative and entertaining to read, the book veers off into some strange territory that is very anti-islam (perhaps with good reason in some cases) and anti-immigration. I’m not sure the whole book cohered into a solid, sustained argument against mass immigration and it’s ill effects in Europe.
The book was intere More...
While informative and entertaining to read, the book veers off into some strange territory that is very anti-islam (perhaps with good reason in some cases) and anti-immigration. I’m not sure the whole book cohered into a solid, sustained argument against mass immigration and it’s ill effects in Europe.
The book was intere More...
Nov 13, 2009
Chris
rated it:
Lots of interesting info but at times it's equally fascinating, depressing, and dull. Europe will change/ has changed no doubt due to Islam and immigration but immigration has been more like colonization. At times I wasn't quite sure what the writer's intent or opinion was. He basically explains how Europe got to be in its current position-they never thought the immigrants would stay, but then they gave them generous welfare benefits. The Europe we grew up reading about will soon be extinct. Aut
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Jan 24, 2010
Omer
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If you have time to spare and are interested about the impact Muslim immigrants are making on Europe, then read this book. I'll try my best to summarize what this book is about. Europe messed up big time with immigration after WWII. Most immigrants are Muslims, and they aren't adjusting very well to European culture. Both Europe and Muslims are at fault here. The book takes great detail in explaining the faults of both sides and the impact of Muslim immigration on Europe. I'm glad I live in the
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Sep 22, 2009
Dana
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The effects of mass migration to Europe of Muslims is certainly an important topic, and while the author makes some interesting points, I agree with the other posters that this goes off into some weird territory that I can't agree with at all. At many times the author seems to try and be balanced in once sentence, and throws it away in the next.
Don't know if I would tell anyone to read this, since I have such mixed feelings about it myself
Don't know if I would tell anyone to read this, since I have such mixed feelings about it myself
Nov 27, 2009
Linda
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Such a bleak book about how Islam is going to take over Europe, which is secular and feckless. Two anecdotes: 1) Men immigrate, become acculturated but get young bridges from home country; they don’t speak the language and raise their children as if in their home country; and 2) Islamic folks from differing parts of the world are coming together under the banner of Islam.
Aug 06, 2011
A must read. Well research, superbly written. Caldwell achieves a rare feat: taking out political bias from a highly politicized issue. A must read for anybody interested about the future of Europe and society in general. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/books/...
Sep 24, 2010
Gayla
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I have read one chapter of this book. I am not finishing it because as best I can tell, it continues to be an obnoxious, stomach-turning screed against not just Islam, but diversity in general, and I have better things to do with my time.
Jan 17, 2010
Kevin
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I found this to be a fascinating exploration of an often ignored, but very important topic. The implications of the "revolution" in Europe will have importance far beyond the continent.
Jan 28, 2011
Muhammad
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Approximately 1 out of 3 children born in Paris today is delivered to a Muslim mother. In Belgium, the fertility of Muslim women ins 2.5 times that of the native Belgian. In Austria, renowned demographers have estimated that the country will be Muslim majority in about 50 years. Is Islam really taking over Europe?
Seismic changes are about to happen to the European social landscape. If the future of the continent depends on its social cohesion, then the future is not a very pretty pictu More...
Seismic changes are about to happen to the European social landscape. If the future of the continent depends on its social cohesion, then the future is not a very pretty pictu More...
Dec 28, 2009
Craig
rated it:
as scholarly tomes go, this is almost a page-turner. Measured but fearlessly frank reportage on the collision between The West and the Islamic world
Oct 17, 2010
Not impressed. I came into this book looking for a more ethnographic perspective, where the voices of Europeans and Muslim immigrants made up the bulk of the research. Instead, that data is kept at arm's length. I have to agree with another GR reviewer that this book sounds like a bad undergraduate thesis, where the student tries too hard to tie everything together and ends up with one redundant sentence after another. Shallow; I learn more by reading the world news section of the newspaper ever
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Dec 26, 2009
Kate P.
rated it:
An informative read about the changing social and political structures in Europe due to mass immigration following WWII to present. Some of this is welcomed and some unwelcomed. Caldwell states that Europe will have to make changes or adapt in order to maintain its traditions and national identities.
Dec 07, 2009
Holly
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At the beginning of this book I got the feeling that I was reading a college paper from a student that was assigned a 50 page paper and really only had 5 pages worth of real information to tell. But as the book progressed more specifics were brought into the discussion. I would say argument, but I didn't leave the book feeling as if a strong argument was ever made. I think a lot of the issues involving immigration in general, misulim intergration in Europe specifically were brought to light.
Mar 29, 2010
Dan
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starts off very tight, with a stark portrait of european islamification. as the book continues, caldwell's arguments start to get looser and he tends to reach conclusions based on singular incidents, speeches, writing examples, etc.
but overall, this is a scary and well-written look at how europe sacrificed shape its own identity in favor of post-WWII liberalism and, much to its chagrin, americanization.
but overall, this is a scary and well-written look at how europe sacrificed shape its own identity in favor of post-WWII liberalism and, much to its chagrin, americanization.
Sep 08, 2011
David
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Great book that goes through all the issue of inmigration to Western Countries. A great analysis, although you may disagree with the conclusions and predictions.
Jun 06, 2010
Jeff
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This is THE book to read on the problems facing Europe over immigration.
Jan 29, 2012
