Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom [Hardcover]

Bruce Bawer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 19, 2009

There is a new form of jihad to fear—one that threatens the very values on which our freedom rests

Bruce Bawer’s While Europe Slept sounded the alarm about the dire impact of Muslim immigration in Europe. Now, in Surrender, he reveals that a combination of fear and political correctness has led politicians, intellectuals, religious leaders, and the media—both in the United States and abroad—to appease radical Islam at the cost of our most cherished values: freedom of speech and freedom of the press. And the cost could ultimately be even higher—the imposition of sharia law in places where liberty once reigned.
In Surrender, Bawer writes of a new form of jihad that began with the fatwa against Salman Rushdie in 1989, a death sentence born of Muslim outrage over a work of literature. It marked the dawn of an era of pressure and intimidation designed to crush the ability of non-Muslims to resist Islamic encroachments on Western freedom. In a sweeping survey of recent history and current events, Bawer traces a pattern of heightened sensitivity to Muslim reactions and a reluctance to look honestly at the human-rights deficiencies of the Muslim world. This pattern can be seen in the widespread denunciation of the Danish cartoons and of the editors who printed them; in the glowing media coverage of the supposedly moderate Muslim icon Tariq Ramadan; in the decision of major newspapers to ignore or soft-pedal terrorist “dry runs” on American airplanes; in the international uproar over a single sentence about Islam in a lecture by Pope Benedict; and in attempts by certain parties to silence criticism of Islam by suing writers who have dared to speak forthrightly about the religion.
Bawer argues that people throughout the Western world—in reaction to such events as the Danish cartoon riots and the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh—are surrendering to fear. And he observes that Muslim extremists have found unexpected allies: non-Muslims who, motivated by the misguided doctrine of multiculturalism, refuse to criticize even the most illiberal aspects of Islamic culture. The resulting accommodation undermines the values of individual liberty and equality on which our nation was founded.

Fearless and excoriating, Surrender is an essential wake-up call for everyone concerned about the preservation of our most fundamental freedoms.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bawer (While Europe Slept) argues that, in the name of tolerance and multiculturalism, critics of radical Islam are being silenced by left-leaning academics, politicians and journalists. He argues that self-censorship has become widespread in the Western press, referring to outcry following the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's 2005 publication of cartoon depictions of the prophet Muhammad, when many international news outlets debated whether the paper had the right to print them in the first place—an attack on freedom of the press coming from within its own ranks. While Bawer does an admirable job of rooting out hypocritical statements made by pundits and politicians, readers might wince at his pronounced anti-Muslim bias—he claims that Muslim immigrants to the West are in a war to snuff out free speech and equal rights. Bawer's thought-provoking arguments are overshadowed by his shrill condemnations and a cranky attack on those who paint him as a polarizing figure. The book would have been helped had the author remembered his own statement, made early in the book: Free speech doesn't mean immunity from criticism. (May)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Narrowing his scope from While Europe Slept (2005) but retaining its theme of radical Islamic assault on Western civil liberties, Bawer files a hefty brief of case reports on Muslim campaigns against free speech, primarily in western Europe but also in Canada and the U.S. Official infatuation with political correctness (PC), the determination that no one ever be offended, and multiculturalism, the dogma that all cultural perspectives are equally and universally valid, undergird what Bawer believes amounts to a surrender of Western liberal traditions. What may seal the fate of free speech, he argues, are the apparent inabilities of Western ruling elites to be offended by Muslims rioting, threatening by fatwa, and murdering non-Muslims (Bawer fully presents instances of all three, many of them known, though insufficiently, by Americans) and to assert the priority of Western liberal values in the West. Since he continues to write about free-speech clashes, Norwegian resident Bawer says, he increasingly risks charges of violating Muslims’ legal right not to be criticized in more and more European countries. Moreover, because he is gay, and because radical Islam prescribes death for homosexuality, as sharia law becomes the law in Muslim-majority areas—a development well underway—his life is in burgeoning jeopardy, too. Sublimely literate and rational, Bawer is no crank, however angry he gets. This, like its immediate predecessor, is an immensely important and urgent book. --Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 321 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; First edition (May 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038552398X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385523981
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #751,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pacifism über Alles!, August 7, 2009

By 

Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom (Hardcover)

The USA has experienced 9/11 and Europe too has had its share of terrorism. Bawer goes back to the Salman Rushdie affair that erupted in 1989 to demonstrate how the West's capitulation began in our era. For the bigger picture he goes back even further, to a time when armies of desert tribes bearing a new religion burst out of the Arabian Peninsula to conquer the civilized world as far as Central Asia and Spain during its first expansion. Later waves led to the conquest of Hindustan, deep penetration into northern, western and eastern Africa and finally the subjugation of the Balkans.

The majority of the conquered peoples were converted by force or policies of oppression and discrimination (dhimmitude) except in the cases of Spain, India and the Balkans where the indigenous faiths stood their ground, eventually reasserting themselves through counterconquest or independence. In Africa, Christian Ethiopia was protected by geography and fierce defenders. Bawer shows how the crusades were a reaction to Islamic incursions and covers the USA's first ever overseas war, the one with the Barbary pirates in the early 1800s. Today, the target is the West's civil liberties of which free speech tops the list.

It's now clear that the Salman Rushdie affair exposed the cowardice of western leaders and intellectuals, introducing an era of intimidation aimed at undermining our basic freedoms. The triumph of multiculturalism & political correctness and the decline of Christianity in Europe handed the Islamists a 5th column, a weapon and a vacuum to fill. The consensus-über-alles European political & academic elites opted for appeasement. By now, this spirit of surrender has infected all aspects of European society including the courts, law enforcement and what remains of the mainstream Protestant churches of western and northern Europe.

Bawer devotes much energy to the cowardice of western media - especially the New York Times and BBC - that deny the threat by portraying radicals like Tariq Ramadan as moderates, by ignoring the treasonous statements of extremist clergy and all the while smearing those who dare speak out. Chronicling the crumbling resistance, he covers the murders of Pim Fortuyn in 2002, Theo van Gogh in 2004, the 2005 Danish cartoon controversy and the riotous reaction to a speech by Pope Benedict. As grand causes, the author diagnoses the horrors of WWII and the welfare state that followed as the breeding grounds of the pacifism-über-alles mentality which is leading to civilizational suicide.

The complicity of the media is established through hundreds of examples of underreporting, omission, silence & dissembling, every one backed up by verifiable sources and quotes. They refuse to admit the extent of e.g. honor killings & female circumcision in Europe, they obfuscate the nature of crimes and blur the identity of perpetrators and they deny that integration has utterly failed. In effect, two societies now exist in Europe: one of native Europeans & assimilated immigrants versus one of alienated, unassimilated populations in enclaves that are subject to Sharia law.

Trapped in wishful thinking, the media blame the messenger who increasingly risks prosecution under European speech codes. Bawer points out the deplorable slurs meted out to a brave defender of freedom like Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A favorite media tactic is to take recourse in moral equivalence with the mantra of "extremists on both sides," equating violent jihadis with their non-violent critics. The late Oriana Fallaci faced trial in Italy when she passed away in 2006 and in Canada, Mark Steyn & Ezra Levant only triumphed over state kommissars due to their spirited defense and public support. In America, the First Amendment still guards freedom of expression, for now.

Meanwhile reality -- unable to conform to the fantasies of the elites -- continues to assert itself. Despite generous welfare payments and the lavish funding of leaders & representatives, the hidden society promotes crime and is prone to ourbursts of nationwide violence as France learnt in 2005. This by the way, was initially ignored by the US media and when eventually reported, the euphemism "youths" was employed for the arsonists. Amsterdam that once prided itself on being the most tolerant city in Europe has become dangerous for gay people who are targets of this low-level Jihad. Yet the media still prefer discredited academics like Karen Armstrong and John Esposito over serious scholars such as Bat Ye'or, Robert Spencer, Ibn Warraq, Efraim Karsh and Andrew Bostom.

'Surrender' eloquently defends Enlightenment values as it attempts to rouse a comatose West. Besides the aforementioned observers, the alarm has also been sounded by Claire Berlinski, Theodore Dalrymple, Nonie Darwish, Brigitte Gabriel, David Horowitz, Caroline Glick, Melanie Phillips, Bruce Thornton, Phyllis Chesler, Walter Laqueur and Jamie Glazov to name a few. Let the author have the last say: "At least one thing seems certain: against people who are ready to die in the cause of destroying freedom, people who are not willing to speak up for freedom for fear of being called a racist or an Islamophobe don't stand much chance of victory."

57 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly illuminating, June 28, 2009

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom (Hardcover)

Gary Bawer is an American expatriate literary critic and writer of renown. In his extensive writings, Mr. Bawer has written about the gay lifestyle, about religion, and about freedom. With the publication of his 2006 book, While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within, he took a step into a truly harrowing subject - militant Islam. In this book, Mr. Bawer looks at how the "politically correct" elements of Western society have effectively embraced the cause of militant Islam, and how they are working to tear down many hard-won freedoms in their support of them.

Overall, I found this to be a deeply disturbing book. Mr. Bawer shows extreme courage in writing this book, taking on real heat for discussing a subject that many think should be left unexamined. The book goes quite into depth on what is happening, and what it means. If you want to read a book that is truly illuminating on the subject of militant Islam and what it means for freedoms within the Western democracies, then you really must read this book.

54 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a must read!, May 26, 2009

By 

Frederick Litwin (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom (Hardcover)

Bruce Bawer has written a tour de force. I suggest that everybody buy this book immediately - in fact, buy 2 copies and give one to a friend. I am about two-thirds of the way through his book, and I can't put it down. Most of the stories in here are familiar - the cartoons, Pym Fortuyn, Van Gogh - but Bawer weaves them all together into a narrative that will have you angry as hell.

Well-written, well-researched, "Surrender" is a must-read. Put down what you are reading now, and buy this book.