London-born Lebor, a correspondent for the London Times and author of Hitler's Secret Bankers (LJ 7/97), combines countless interviews with some limited research to explore the media myths and perceptions of Muslims in the West. He details the destruction of Bosnia, the growth of Islamic organizations and publications centered in London, the relations of Algerian Muslims to the French, the intolerance of the Germans, the rise of Islamic converts in Turkey, and America's issues with Muslim terrorists and the Nation of Islam. He also includes a brief but easy-to-understand guide to the foundations of Islam. Although this is an interesting piece of work, Lebor tends to weave his own reactions into it, which detracts from his fine interviewing skills. Furthermore, his stilting dialog makes this a bit cumbersome to read. Recommended for academic and large public libraries.?Jill Jaracz, Chicago
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Continuing the outpouring of testimonials on the Bosnian disaster, reporter LeBor's observations extend beyond the plight of Slavic Muslims to Muslims from Pakistan, Turkey, and Algeria, who have found themselves living in Europe. A final chapter briefly alights on American soil, containing LeBor's impressions of the Nation of Islam and of the crew convicted of the World Trade Center bombing. LeBor's announced theme is "how I shed my stereotypes"; his purpose, "to give [Muslims] a voice." That he does by allowing long statements from his subjects and linking them with explanations of Muslim beliefs, customs, and history. Sympathetic to their grievances against the societies to which Muslims have emigrated, LeBor levels pointed criticisms at France and Germany, principally, and secondarily at his native Britain. LeBor also traveled to southeastern Europe to check on the state of Muslim cultural remnants, in the form of place names, buildings, and small communities, in the old Ottoman suzerainty. An eclectic surveyor with decided opinions, LeBor ably canvasses the spectrum of Muslim views on life in nominally Christian countries. Gilbert Taylor
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