Miniatures: Views of Islamic and Middle Eastern Politics [Hardcover]

Daniel Pipes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 2003

The volatility of Muslim and Middle Eastern politics has made these interrelated topics an overriding preoccupation of world and especially U.S. politics. Perhaps no region of the world has ever so dominated the American public discourse as the Middle East does today. As Daniel Pipes shows, this results mainly, but not exclusively, from the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the ensuing war on terrorism. Other sources of trouble include militant Islam, Muslims in the West, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Iraq situation, relations with Saudi Arabia, the price of oil and gas, and U.S. policy toward all these issues. These are the central themes of the roughly one hundred essays in Daniel Pipes' Miniatures: Views of Islamic and Middle Eastern Politics.

As Pipes notes, the Islamist war against America preceded the events of 9/11. Nevertheless, response to the earlier attacks had been inconsistent and somewhat nonchalant. Pipes shows how the State Department's annual report on Patterns of Global Terrorism veers into unreliability and even falsehood. He explains the problem in George W. Bush trying to decide what is true Islam and what not, in U.S. academics hiding the true meaning of the word "jihad," and in seventh-grade textbooks proselytiing for Islam. Pipes demonstrates that many seemingly devout Islamists are in fact impious frauds. When it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict, Pipes indicates how the failure of the Oslo process could be discerned as early as 1994 and he shows how Yasir Arafat speaks one way to Arabs and another way to Israelis.

This important collection, by one of the foremost experts in the field, presents original insights, accessibly written for Middle East specialists, political scientists, policymakers, journalists, and the interested public.

Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, is the author of eleven prior books, including three available from Transaction: In the Path of God: Islam and Political Power, The Long Shadow: Culture and Politics in the Middle East, and The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West. A former official in the Departments of State and Defense, Mr. Pipes has taught at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and the U.S. Naval War College. He is a prie-winning columnist for the New York Post and the Jerusalem Post and appears widely on television and radio.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Daniel Pipes is the president of the Middle East Forum and the author of numerous books, including In the Path of God: Islam and Political Power; The Long Shadow: Culture and Politics in the Middle East; andThe Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West. A former official in the departments of State and Defense, Pipes has taught at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and the US Naval War College. His work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 278 pages
• Publisher: Transaction Publishers (November 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765802155
• ISBN-13: 978-0765802156
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,672,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The lucidity readers have come to expect from Pipes, November 13, 2003

By 

Y. Sageev "a garden-variety dude" (Western NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Miniatures: Views of Islamic and Middle Eastern Politics (Hardcover)

If you have been following the essays and articles that Pipes has written in numerous newspapers and magazines, you may find this book a bit redundant. However, it is one-stop-purchase if you want a concise overview of the author's social and political views. A must read for all those concerned about the war on terror and its roots. Against the tide, Pipes has spoken out eloquently and urgently. Miniatures is no exception. Highly recommend.

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful and informative, October 25, 2004

By 

Jill Malter ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miniatures: Views of Islamic and Middle Eastern Politics (Hardcover)

I've read several books by Pipes. It's my impression that most of what he says is rather tame and cautious. And that most of what he says is not very controversial. He often has something illuminating in his essays, but much of this is relatively apolitical.

At least in this book, I was able to figure out which political party he favored!

Now, it is true that Pipes has often said that militant Islamic attacks on Americans were a form of war as opposed to individual criminal acts. He's said that our government ought to take seriously the ideology that has been motivating such attacks, and that we ought to make policy changes in order to win this war and destroy the effectiveness of any enemy forces. Well, our administration has regarded the 9/11 attacks as war. It has tried to destroy the enemy forces. As near as I can tell, what Pipes has advocated here has been fair and reasonable.

Pipes feels that the battle is not against Islam but against militant Islamists, a group that can be marginalized and defeated with the help of moderate Muslims. Again, this does not sound all that radical an idea.

Pipes is indeed bothered by Islamic militants who manage to pass themselves off as moderates. If they get away with it, Pipes' recommendations will be misimplemented and doomed.

I liked the essays and found them informative. Maybe you will as well. But if you were looking for something wild and maybe, um, raging and fuming, you won't find it here.

49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent summations with one logic problem, March 22, 2005

By 

Avid Reader (Franklin, Tn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miniatures: Views of Islamic and Middle Eastern Politics (Hardcover)

For several years, Daniel Pipes has pondered subjects like terrorism, radical Islam, anti-Semitism, the collusion of the Left and Islamists and chances for a realistic peace in the Mideast. He is a regular contributor to Jewish World Review (subscribe - it's free!) and startles the reader with clarity and the ability to see beyond the headlines and sound bites. Here, he takes yet another look at the future with regard to radical and moderate Islam.

Pipe journeys from the past to the present. He suggests ways of breaking the stalemate but falters when discussing "moderate" Muslims and their ability to change the status quo. One should remember that all Muslims are fundamentalists in that they interpret the Q'ran literally and view it as a guide for modern living. There is no liberal branch of Islam like Reform Judaism or Unitarianism. Another seemingly tabboo subject is tribalism which is at the core of many problems. The failure of modern Muslim states is directly due to the primary allegiance given to Islam and the tribe. Objections or protests are seen as disloyal at best, heretical at worst. When reality is viewed through a rigid religious or ideological prism only cosmetic changes are possible.

Compare the Holy Roman Empire and the Renaissance Europe that blossomed once the hold of the Church over every aspect of society declined. The society questioned itself and found a new pathway. This internal questioning has yet to occur in Islamic societies that continue to seatch the past for guidance in the future. Pipes (and most of us) envisions a future world in which tolerance is the norm. I fear that vision is ephemeral at best.