Scott H. reviewed on 11/7/2009 + 14 more book reviews

This is a brilliant book, written with all the elegance and observation that you would expect of a Nobel Prize-winner. It also has all the complexity and ambiguity of a great thinker who is not a polemicist -- or shall we say who is endeavouring not to be a polemicist. Naipaul's biases do shine through as he reports on the countries where Islam has arrived as a convert-seeking force. He makes his case through observation that Islam largely wipes out or subsumes previous traditions and ways of life. And, in a modernizing country such as Indonesia that has left little of the past and the structural essence of a country. Islam's parallels with European colonialism and Japanese war invasions are enlightening. Even if you are not disquieted by Islam's forces, you will be far more aware of the complexity of the developing nations Naipaul visits.
A note here: written in 1987(?) the book pre-dates 9/11/2001 and is not about terrorism. It is about the developing world of South and Southeast Asia and the influence of several centuries of spreading Islam.

Back to all reviews by this member
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details