Customer Reviews

My Year Inside Radical Islam: A Memoir

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Of all the books about Islam that I've read to try to understand it, none other has given me such an enjoyably intimate portrait of the way that the religion actually works on people. Gartenstein-Ross's experiences are so revealing because as you read you can imagine how you might have been led to the same radical politics that he was. He shows you how it happeneed gradually and how it all seemed pretty logical at the time (this was all before 9-11). It's also very well written. He's very mart and it makes you wonder if someone with so much intelligence could take such dangerous positions, what chance do the great masses of unschooled followers have against the persuasions of their faith. I'm glad he's back to tell his story!

It is more accurate to characterize this as a memoir of the author's flirtation with radical Islam: a flirtation that burgeoned over the course of a year or so but really blossomed only for the three months he worked for an Ashland foundation dedicated to the spread of Wahhabism. The book starts with the author recounting a New Age spiritual upbringing dedicated more to seeking spiritual fulfillment than to living with answers once they're found. When he drifts into Islam, he finds himself drawn to the idea of an end to the quest for answers: the more fundamentalists he hangs out with, the more decisions he finds God has already made for him. But as he competes with his co-religionists for the honor of being considered the most orthodox, he finds his increasingly rigid life and attitudes at odds with his freewheeling and liberal upbringing. He begins drifting away from the fundamentalist life as soon as he leaves employment at the foundation. Eventually he converts to Christianity.

This book is most useful as a candid autobiography of one man's spiritual quest and the dead end it nearly reached in fundamentalism. The author describes the increasing conservatism of his mindset during his weeks at the foundation with objectivity and plausibility. As the author remarks, this mindset is important to understand, because it contradicts both liberal and conservative dogma about what motivates America's Islamist enemies.

But those who hope for a real look "inside radical Islam" will be disappointed, as this is much more a personal account than a journalistic one. For the real "inside" of radical Islam, we would have to look substantially farther east than the liberal enclave of Ashland, Oregon. The title oversells the book, but it is a quick read and besides its value as the account of one callow youth's spiritual journey, it will be useful to any reader with traditional assumptions about why the Islamists fight.

Gartenstein-Ross vividly tells the story of his spiritual journey in this book. Insightful and thoughtful, this book is a must-read for those seeking to understand the appeal of radical Islam in order to learn how to combat it. Best book I have read all year.

This book was indeed very difficult to put down; I read it in about 3 days. I am not sure if it is Daveed's inviting writing style or the fact that he and I share much in common, but the book seems to really draw you in. I happen to work in the counter-terrorism field myself, and I have yet to read a book that truly spells out how one could descend into radical Islam, or radically into any religion for that matter. By the end of the book, the reader will most likely feel that he or she knows Daveed personally; this is not always easy to accomplish, even in memoirs. I am, however, surprised to see only two other reviews of this book at this time. I truly hope more people read it. There is no reason this shouldn't rank high on the NYT best-seller list.

The ranks of al Qaeda have included Daniel Maldonado, Jose Padilla, Adam Gadahn and David Hicks - all youthful Western converts to Islam who one way or another became radicalised. The process of radicalization and the path that one takes are rarely explored in publications and materials available outside of counterterrorism circles and never before with a personal narrative as contained in Daveed Gartenstein-Ross' memoir.

"My Year Inside Radical Islam" is a highly satisfying and intelligent book that takes readers inside his head as hunted for spiritual answers, transitioning from liberal campus activist to radical Muslim who supported gender segregation, prayed for Mujahideen victories and worked for an outfit that was assisting al Qaeda pre-9/11.

It is not a sensational exposé and it is certainly not a throw-away political book. Gartenstein-Ross' details his journey in an understated and soft-spoken manner, which engages the reader extraordinarily well, and he approaches the people who ultimately led him down the path to radicalization in a non-judgmental fashion. He also approaches the religion of Islam in a manner that devout Muslims can appreciate and non-Muslims can understand.

While the scope of the book is limited to Gartenstein-Ross' personal experience, it provides insight into the radicalization process and provides a personal context with which to understand what others - Western and non-Western alike - found attractive in radical Islam.

All in all, highly recommended.

While I was reading Daveed's memior, I couldn't help but read it on two different levels. On one level, I saw it as an informational account about radical Islamic doctrine. In this capacity, it helped shed light on the various contours of radical Islamic law and how people can interpret these laws differently. Additionally, I found it interesting how various theological arguments can be made so convincing.

More importantly, I saw the book as a very deep and personal description of one man's struggle to find religious conviction. I was captivated by Daveed's journey and how his employers and those associated with them used religion as justification for preaching hatred and animosity. In my opinion, one thing that is generally misunderstood about the war on terror is that the enemy we face is different than any we have ever faced. The enemies that we are fighting derive their inspiration from their God, not from human leaders. Thus, theological arguments can be crafted into indisputable orders. The book does a fantastic job of revealing this point.

Daveed captures his struggles with a very well-written and thought-provoking narrative. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to understand the theological allure of radical Islam and how threatening radical interpretations of Islam can be. Islam itself is not the problem; instead the problem and threat we face rests in those who twist their faith in a radical way, calling for the death of man-made governments and the death of any person who doesn't believe in their aggressors' version of Islam.

An excellent slice of insight into radical Islam. While I did not expect an all-inclusive essay on Islam and the current planetary radicalization of so many of its members, I agree with Emerson who said there is no history, only biography. And this little biography has graphic and telling insights into this trend now in history, as we go into the mind of a man who converted first to Islam, then was pulled into a more radical expression of it. We see how the impact of extremist Wahhabi Saudi "charity" money plays out in real life - in this country.

If a liberal, western man can, in the course of a year, come to think it normal to hear someone say "let them cut off their heads" you can only imagine the effect of this kind of brainwashing on young males captive to a culture with a violent monochromatic view of the world.

The book is decently written and very quickly becomes hard to put down. The author has a muslim college friend who, independent of himself, also becomes radicalized. It's heartening that they both come to their senses -- one as a Christian convert, the other continuing as a devout muslim -- and that Mr. Ross doesn't paint all muslims with a broad brush based on the despicable behavior of his former co-religionists. Highly recommended.

While Daveed shares his personal journey in an easily read manner, he also guides the reader through the subtle shifts in his perspective that are at the core of the challenge facing those who believe in a peaceful, morally centered practice of Islam. While not all readers will see themselves or someone they know in the story, they will find it an engaging and thought provoking read.

Gartenstein-Ross's book is a fascinating account of how a deeply thoughtful young man can come to be persuaded by a radical ideology, and how open, critical thinking can, with the help of friends and family, find the right path. The book is a real page-turner, even though written entirely from the inside the mind of the author. It touches on the intellectual rites of passage that so many college students go through, and then on to an account of his time with an Islamic charity group that eerily foreshadows 9/11.

Gartenstein-Ross discusses Islam and its various sects with a strong command of the viewpoints and theologies involved. For those who do not know the rich diversity that can be found in Islam, Gartenstein-Ross guides the reader nicely through these viewpoints simultaneously through the eyes of an average American as well as one who understands those views on a personal level. It is exceedingly rare to find a discussion of the Nation of Islam, Wahhabism, and Sufism that can dovetail between all of them from a first-person perspective but which gives them their due.

I thought the book interspersed the drama with humor masterfully; Gartenstein-Ross is a great story-teller. What the reviews of the book largely do not mention is that the book is a story about the conquering power of love. It is as riveting and thought-provoking a love story as I have ever had the good fortune to come across.

It was 1976 and a young and confused 18 year old boy bolted westward to begin college at what was then known as SOSC. This boy was trying to escape the oppressive atmosphere and internal tensions he felt while attending high school outside of Washington DC.

It's the proverbial retelling of the "sex, drugs and rock-n-roll" life style writ in very small print in the southern Oregon hippie haven of Ashland. The life followed that boy all the way from the east coast; and it's not that it exploded into self immolation or became extremely sordid at it's darkest moments. It was just the time of a kid trying to create an identity in the midst of lots of confusion on the homefront as much as it was throughout the known universe. Vietnam, a bad divorce, Dominos, the Great Society, insanity up close, pot, pot and more pot, acid, speed, mushrooms, long hair, bell-bottom blues, Before and After The Flood, Risk, Voodoo, Rastafarianism, Peace, Love, Understanding, Stagflation, Porn, Existentialism, Maharesh Yogi, The Ayatollah, Keggars & Soccer.

Frankly it was a time of immense personal freedom and it was my belief at the time that there was no freer place in all the world than the west coast of America. And if you wanted to hide out for awhile, well Ashland was the place. Lithia Park, the TOP-OF-THE-WORLD, the GreenSprings, the Mountain, Jackson, Banks, Bend, Bandon, Big Al's, Omar's, the Rare Earth, the Village Commons, Chateaulin and Hawthorn Hall. I remember thee as if it was just last week.

SOSC had an aggressive Foreign Exchange Student Program. Through soccer I met kids from Saudi Arabia (a brother and his beautiful sister, but boy was she uncomfortable), Iran, France, Nigeria, Findland, and even Alabama!!! We all seemed pretty okay. And even the Ayatollah couldn't ruin the comraderie. The American's on that squad still meet in Ashland each decade to relive the "good times".

My how times have changed. My how things have stayed the same. Mr. Gartenstein-Ross is most definitely a product of his environment, but it just goes to show you that identity in this country is often times made and not inherited.

This book is more than nostalgic though. My family members have been waste deep in Oklahoma City and Columbine, and I take this terrorism stuff very seriously. But as ominous as the title of the book appears it's really more a less a study of a very talented young man's problems with identity. It's just that the backdrop at times seems so pernicious. Daveed was just trying make his way home. To me Pete Seda(a man I never met and a rather fantastical character in the tale), is emblematic of the tumultuous nature of the place, the story, the main character, Islam and the times we face today.

All-in-all an easy and quick read....shouldn't really take more than a day to get through this one. Well worth your time.