The "End of History" was a period that we were all supposed to enter together. Western democracies would lead the way, with the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America following soon after into an era of ideology-free technocratic governance. After centuries of conflict over fundamental differen ...more
The strength of this book is that it calls into question the critical assumptions of both the American Left (that Arab nations are moving inexorably towards secularism) and Right (that Islamist movements around the Arab world are monolithic and brutalizing). That it does so in the key of invitation ...more
First things first - The title should contain "struggle over Islamism" which is the book's subject and not Islam. The author is one of a no of commentators who believe that any two values r equivalent - freedom of speech/punishment for blasphemy, freedom of religion/punishment for apostasy, human ri ...more
I'm very interested in the politics surrounding ISIS and Islam. This book was interesting to me because it attempted to explain to the Western Mind how Islam started, its divides and nuances between its many sects. The book also explains how the Middle East has descen ...more
The author has a very simple argument in this book. Islam, when it comes to how religion relates to politics, is different. He asks "If islam is different, why should it follow the same path in the Middle East that Christianity walked in Europe?" When it comes to secularism Islam has shown a certain ...more
I'm going to revisit this book in the near future for a closer reading and to take some notes. I found it very instructive. I'm still not sure exactly what is meant by "exceptionalism", but basically the book is a study of Islamism, a.k.a. political Islam, as exemplified in four case studies : Egypt ...more
I received this book as part of Good Reads First Reads give away.
My favorite quote from this book is "We aren't all the same and why should we be (p242)?" That pretty much sums up the overall thesis of the book. That Islam interacts with politics in a way fundamentally different from Christians, agn ...more
I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.
In the very current Islamic Exceptionalism presents Shadi Hamid's argument of how Islam can be reconciled with democracy and liberalism. As the title makes quiet clear, and Hamid reiterates many times throughout the book, Islam is different ...more
Do not be fooled by the title, this book does not attempt to make the case that Islam is "better" than other religions. What it does is show how Islam is different in the way it interacts with politics and social policy. The idea of "Islamism" as a backlash against forced secularism seemed particula ...more
Reading this book was challenging and rewarding. I often felt like I was prepping for a college class. And I definitely struggled through some of Hamid's logic, largely because I am woefully ignorant about both Islam and political history in the Middle East. But ultimately, reading Islamic Exception...more