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Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam (American Empire Project) Paperback – October 3, 2006

by Robert Dreyfuss (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 93 ratings
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"The most clear and engaging history of the deadly, historic partnership between Western powers and political Islam."―Salon.com

Devil's Game is the first comprehensive account of America's misguided efforts, stretching across decades, to dominate the strategically vital Middle East by courting and cultivating Islamic fundamentalism.

Drawing on extensive archival research and interviews with dozens of policy makers and CIA, Pentagon, and foreign service officials, Robert Dreyfuss follows the trail of American collusion from support for the Muslim Brotherhood in 1950s Egypt, to links with Khomeini and Afghani jihadists, to longstanding ties between radical Islamists and the leading banks of the West. The result is as tragic as it is paradoxical: originally deployed as pawns to foil nationalism and communism, extremist mullahs and ayatollahs now dominate the landscape, thundering against freedom of thought, science, women's rights, secularism―and their former patron.
Chronicling a history of double-dealing, cynical exploitation, and humiliating embarrassment that continues to this day, Devil's Game reveals a pattern that, far from furthering democracy or security, ensures a future of blunders and blowback.

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  1. Part of series
    American Empire Project
  2. Print length
    400 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Metropolitan Books
  5. Publication date
    October 3, 2006
  6. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.89 x 8.5 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0805081372
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0805081374
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From the Publisher

Devil's Game Robert Dreyfuss

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Eye-opening, original, and important.” ―Chalmers Johnson, author of The Sorrows of Empire

“Crisp, lively . . . Provides a concise and readable account of the evolution of America's partnerships with radical Islamic groups and regimes.” ―The American Conservative

About the Author

Robert Dreyfuss, who covers national security for Rolling Stone, has written extensively on Iraq and the war on terrorism for The Nation, The American Prospect, and Mother Jones. He is the author of Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam. A frequent contributor to NPR, MSNBC, CNBC, and many other broadcast outlets, he lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Metropolitan Books
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 3, 2006
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0805081372
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0805081374
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.89 x 8.5 inches
  • Part of series ‏ : ‎ American Empire Project
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 93 ratings

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Robert Dreyfuss

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
93 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book very informative about history, with one review noting it serves as a textbook on fundamentalist Islam. The book receives positive feedback for its readability, with one customer describing it as a well-written overview.

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Information qualityReadability
9 customers mention "Information quality"9 positive0 negative

Customers find the book informative about history, with one customer noting its detailed coverage of the present situation, while another describes it as a textbook on fundamentalist Islam.

"...The book did a good job of helping me understand the history and complexities of fundamental Islam as it is forced to interface with capitalism...." Read more

"Informative, but not all factual in areas" Read more

"Deep global enlighten historical information engineered to be scattered within the writer boarders of basidiomycetes at the outset and engineered..." Read more

"This is a most important read...." Read more

8 customers mention "Readability"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read, with one customer noting it is very well written, and another describing it as the most comprehensive overview of the topic.

"Robert Dreyfuss has produced the most comprehensive and accurately sourced evidence of the monster that was artificially created by first the..." Read more

"I'll give this book five stars for information and three stars for readability. Though only 400 pages, it took me four days to read it...." Read more

"...of the book ; unbiased ,lucrative in frame of references and very well informed writer." Read more

"A detailed introductions of how islam was co-opted into politics and economics to create fundamentalism that has plagues the world." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Forensic CPA
    5.0 out of 5 stars Best Evidence of the Origins of Moslem Fundamentalism
    Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2013
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Robert Dreyfuss has produced the most comprehensive and accurately sourced evidence of the monster that was artificially created by first the British and later by our flawed and disastrous intelligence apparatus to protect big oil and arms dealers at the expense of millions of lives lost, displaced refugees, cultures decimated and terrorism worldwide. This is a must read for all who are in search of the true origins of the artificially created Moslem Fundamentalism.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • FOD-1
    5.0 out of 5 stars Playing with fire
    Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2006
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Berlin; these are the places of confrontation one thinks of when one considers the Cold War between the USA and the USSR. But there was one region often missed, yet which is influencing world events even now; the Middle East. It is here that the West in general, and the USA specifically, committed various acts and supported fiends of all sort in its endeavor to stop the spread of communism.

    Starting in the early 1900s, and picking up after WWII, western powers fought against nationalistic groups throughout N. Africa and the Middle East. They did this by allying with and aiding local Muslim fundamentalist organizations, such as the Wahabis in Saudi Arabia, the ayatollahs in Iran, and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. The nationalist groups were secular and progressive, and made easy targets for the religious fervor of the Islamists to campaign against them in various ways overt and covert. This was encouraged by the US thru the CIA, the embassies, international organizations such as the IMF and World Bank, and treaties of all sorts. The initial results were civil strife throughout the Arab world. This was followed by the rise of Islamist groups throughout the Muslim world, most noticeably the rise of Hamas in Palestine.

    By reading this book, one comes to understand that the actions of the US during the Cold War helped to create Al Queda, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban, and various other Muslim fundamentalist groups both local and international. This then was the Devil's game that the US played. By siding with Islamists the US betted that together they could defeat communism. This happened, but what came after might be a lot worse.
    22 people found this helpful
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  • J. Adams
    4.0 out of 5 stars A veritable text book on fundamentalist Islam
    Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2008
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I'll give this book five stars for information and three stars for readability. Though only 400 pages, it took me four days to read it. I was expecting two.
    I felt like I was back in college reading another text on global ecopolitics. I would be surprised if the book was not required reading for some classes.
    The author is generally even handed in my opinion. The book did a good job of helping me understand the history and complexities of fundamental Islam as it is forced to interface with capitalism. This is not an easy subject to tackle.
    Most of us will wish that Bush had read this book. Some of us wish that Bush had read anything of significance related to the complexities of dealing with often unstable regimes that happen to be sitting on most of the worlds oil supply. This didn't slow down Bush and Company a bit. They just decided to take it because they "needed it."
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Dwight C. Douglas
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Devil Made Us Pay Them
    Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2015
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    The way I discovered this book was when two former CIA Afghani operatives sat down next to me at a bar in Washington, DC. After a brief discussion about the state of the world, they suggested I read Devil's Game: How the United States Helped Unleash Fundamentalist Islam by Robert Dreyfuss. For those people who are conspiracy freaks, this book will only make you more paranoid. For those of us who are looking for a fuller understanding of how we got to the point that a religion would be so politically and militarily driven, this is the perfect book. In a sense, it makes me ashamed of my country. My only regret was that this was published in 2006 and in the decade since, there have been so many things this book predicted. Wake up Washington I give Devil’s Game five stars and hope that other writers and researchers carry on this work.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • Cyrus K Davies
    5.0 out of 5 stars ISLAMIZATION of the MIDDLE EAST
    Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2021
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    It’s as true and as vividly w indicates today in the Middle East, the ISLAMIZATION of that regime to keep mass the populations ignorant and keep them under totalitarian regimes while robbing them of their resources as well as keep them fighting amoug themselves till their total destruction....!!!
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  • P.K.Mardak
    5.0 out of 5 stars Must read
    Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2019
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Any time anyone starts talking about the middle east and Islam, the first question I ask is have you read this book? Without reading this book, any discussion of Islam in the middle east is neglectfully incomplete. There are some really smart analysts in the CIA. When policy makers don't listen to them, historically bad stuff happens in the world and ironically, the CIA often gets the blame. This book is written by one such expert insider.
    Helpful
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  • Karlene Henry
    1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
    Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2014
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Informative, but not all factual in areas
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  • Azzam Masri
    5.0 out of 5 stars Devils Game is a tour de force focusing on the ambivalant abstruse American foreign policy .
    Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2013
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Deep global enlighten historical information engineered to be scattered within the writer boarders of basidiomycetes at the outset and engineered too to flow ,in the final analysis, ,all, in the Muslim Brothers basin the ultimate target of the book ; unbiased ,lucrative in frame of references and very well informed writer.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • adboughton
    5.0 out of 5 stars Explaining the Inexplicable
    Reviewed in Australia on November 27, 2020
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    For anyone pondering the apparent contradictions in the catastrophic Western geopolitical support for Islamism, this is the most comprehensive and insightful explanation. The love affair between adamantine Islamic fanaticism and adamant Western strategic stupidity.
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  • R CAMUS
    5.0 out of 5 stars excellent ! and easy to read
    Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2018
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    if you should read ONE book on how/why of the turmoils in the middle east, this is the one. This explain clearly that religion is only a political instrument

    Overall, this is an amazing, detailed account of facts (supported by various references) to understand the role and interventions of the West in the middle-east, and the events unfolded there.
    And it is easy to read :-)
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  • Amr Alfaisal
    4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2022
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Demonstrates the Wests continual support for extremists in the Middle East.
    Has many factual errors in the section dealing with Islamic banking.
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  • bissan hazem
    5.0 out of 5 stars WoW, this is all what i could say. ...
    Reviewed in Canada on November 26, 2014
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    WoW, this is all what i could say. This book left me speechless for the amount of information withing it's pages.
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  • Abuab
    1.0 out of 5 stars Total gibberish
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 13, 2015
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Analysis in the book is very shallow and does not provide convincing evidence to support the arguments. This book is a clear manifestation of the prejudice that the American conservative camp has towards the Muslim world. This does not mean that political Islam movements were not penetrable or penetrated by Western powers and their intelligence apparatuses, however Dryfuss struggled to prove his point with exaggerated interpretation of undocumented events. His hypothesis totally ignores the fact that international political affairs are normally the outcome of balancing the interests of local, regional and international powers; not a comic creation of a solitude super mighty power (the Western world).
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