Age of Tolerance, A Novel of Alternate History from Al to Allah [Paperback]

Glen Reinsford (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Glen Reinsford is originally from Alaska.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: The Yukon Group (October 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977216403
• ISBN-13: 978-0977216406
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,336,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but implausible, July 27, 2006

By 

James M. Kaplan (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Age of Tolerance, A Novel of Alternate History from Al to Allah (Paperback)

While the Age of Tolerance is an interesting read, it fails one of the key tests for any novel of alternate history...that of plausibility.

Before I delve into the implausibility, let me outline a few of the strong points here. While nobody's going to confuse Reinsford with Eric Ambler, or Alan Furst for that matter, Age of Tolerance is a fast-moving, enjoyable read that reaches a certain poignancy towards the end. More importantly, it serves as important reminder of the implacable nature of what Hitchens calls Islamafascism and nicely satirizes the "useful idiocy" of its apologists.

However, this books is implausible along a number of dimensions.

1. Reinsford seems to have let his Republican partisanship get in the way of his novelistic judgement. He accurately describes what American policy would have been had the President and his top advisors been drawn from The Guardian or the Middle Eastern studies department at Columbia University. However, there's a big differences between each of those organizations and the Democratic Party's Presidential wing. Al Gore campaigned to GW Bush's right on foreign policy in 2000, calling for larger defense budgets and making noises about a "humble" United States. He was radicalized later, after he believed that the 2000 election had been stolen from him, which would not haver occurred in Reinsford's scenario. In short, it's inconceivable that President Al Gore would have failed to take aggressive military action against the Taliban in 2001. And he would have been impeached if he had not.

2. Which brings us to a second point of implausibility. Enslaved to plot mechanics, Reinsford ignores the feedback loops in American politics, allowing his novel's leftists to over-reach and over-reach without political consequences. Much of the country (sadly) seems to think President GW Bush is too liberal on immigration, yet President Gore can openly reshape American demographics via his "Pillars" program, without causing an electoral apocalypse? President Hillary Clinton can, in effect, create concentration camps for hundreds of thousands or millions of abortion opponents, without destroying her presidency? She can stand by and let Palestinian fanatics slaughter Israelis without tearing apart the Democratic party? Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden, and other relatively hawkish, pro-Israel Democrats didn't throw a fit?

3. Reinsford's depiction of the media is just as unrealistic as his depiction of politics. He implies that once cable network manages to enable America's slide into Sharia law by manipulating the news. Putting aside that CNN isn't any where near so biased as Reinsford implies (though the Guardian and other European outlets certainly are), one does wonder where rest of the press are? The range of media venues available today (Fox News, MSBNC, blogs, the Atlantic Monthly) make it impossible for any news organizations to shape (or manipulate) the debate as, say, the NYT, Time and CBS News might have in 1968.

In short, while the Age of Tolerance is a horror story, it's not a plausible one. So what would a truly scary scenario look like.

Age of Tolerance makes an interesting comparison to "Prayers for the Assassin," in which the northern US succumbs to Islamic domination after nuclear terror attacks on NY and DC, blamed on the Jews, spark a civil war.

Plausibility would probably require a the catastrophic event (both larger than 9/11 and blamed on a scapegoat) posited by "Prayers for the Assassin" followed by years of political authority gradually slipping from democratic, liberal institutions to Islamic radicals (as described in "Age of Tolerance")

James

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun Book with a Serious Message, October 25, 2005

By 

Allison Rosselli - See all my reviews

This review is from: Age of Tolerance, A Novel of Alternate History from Al to Allah (Paperback)

Conservative fiction has certainly changed from the post-nuclear, "Deathlands" genre. This is an intelligent book that is humorous in places, but told in a realistic way.

The story begins with a prelude that is forty years in the future, where it appears that 9/11 is happening all over again. It is there that we meet Pat Ridley and Robert Danforth, two men whose differences are a lot deeper than race.

How could 9/11 happen again? Well, it turns out that Al Gore was elected President in 2000 and he steered the country in a different path after the WTC attacks, including an immigration drive to attract Muslims in order to bring the country's diversity into balance with the rest of the world. Though the consequences aren't immediately evident, they play out logically in the future as the story progresses from 2001 to 2067.

Much of it centers around eight students who are born around 9/11 and come of age in a shared classroom on the campus of Berkeley. The well-indoctrinated graduates go on to positions of power in politics, law, journalism and television, where they promote the far Leftist agenda that ivory-towered academics promised would yield success in the real world.

For military buffs, there is a West Bank evacuation near the beginning (when Hillary is President) and a "Doolittle-like" raid further along that are both quite imaginative. The story picks up a lot of speed in the last half and is a real page-turner.

Real life characters in the book range from Michael Moore to O.J. Simpson. Other characters seem to be based heavily on familiar people, like a Susan Sarandon/Cybil Shepherd-type actress. There are even actual quotes used to justify various decisions in the storyline. Certain events are recognizable, such as the Beslan hostage tragedy - although this Beslan is in South Carolina!).

Reinsford tackles a lot in this book, from illegal immigration to racial preferences and academic indoctrination. He integrates all of this into a story that is told in snatches from various viewpoints over the years.

Although it is a fun book, it was clearly meant to be educational, and this makes it different from the average novel. I think it is as important in the fight against multicultural "political correctness" as any non-fiction book you will find.

13 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifyingly Important, December 11, 2005

By 

R. O. Frankel (Washington, DC, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Age of Tolerance, A Novel of Alternate History from Al to Allah (Paperback)

First of all, Reinsford's book is very readable. The story is engaging and appealing. Some of the characters are a little one-dimensional, but that is sort of the point of satire. It doesn't significantly detract from the novel.

Second, this book has an extremely important message. Islamists will use our values and freedom against us, if we let them. The goal of Islam is, and always has been, world domination. The Islamic world doesn't have the means to subjugate the US by force, so they will (and do already) try other tactics. Terrorism apologist group CAIR is a prime example of this.

Third, I would like to address some of the other comments/criticisms of the novel.

"The book is clearly dangerous because it implies that certain cultures or religion can be inferior to others, even if Reinsford doesn't come out and say it."

The idea of moral and cultural relativism, which justifies female circumcision, honor killings, and genocide, is far more dangerous than the denial of said relativism.


"Indeed, the whole book is an exercise in schizophrenia. It develops early in the story when Al Gore is presented as a robotic moron ("Not a single one of the Arab hijackers had been racially profiled at the airport. Now that's something to feel good about!") while certain other Democrats appear patriotic and level-headed. What are we supposed to believe - that Democrats are OK or not OK?"

Perhaps this commentator is simply confused because he is used to reading unproductive partisan rhetoric, but the fact that Reinsford does not pigeonhole people based on their political parties is a good thing.

"He is anti-racial throughout...but then argues forcefully against Affirmative Action and even appears to support racial profiling...Bizarre..."

Perhaps Reinsford (rightly) belives that Affirmative Action is a racist policy, and that racial profiling is, in fact, not.

"Either Glen Reinsford has multiple-personality disorder, or he is some sort of enlightened sage that thinks way outside the box. I suspect the former."

I suspect the latter. Reinsford takes an honest look at Islam and its "Unholy Alliance" with the left-wing. He values factual correctness over political correctness - exactly the kind of person I like to listen to.

I would recommend this book to anyone. Determined left-wingers and Muslims will probably manage not to like this book, but that doesn't make them right.