Product Description

Examines the causes of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and also provides a reasoned approach as to what the future may hold. As the dust settled around the devastation of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, a host of questions emerged surrounding the attacks, the motives behind them and their future implications. In Two Hours that Shook the World Fred Halliday expands on the many socio-cultural, religious and political problems that have plagued the Middle East and Central Asia in the last half-century. Much has been written about 'global terrorism' and the need to eliminate it but also about the divide between East and West, the 'clash of civilisations'. Halliday dispels the idea that the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds are poised for conflict. He explains the causes and rise of Islamic fundamentalism, how terror became an instrument of political and military conflict, and why seemingly well-educated and sane individuals are taking drastic actions to voice their desperation. The burden of history is also invoked, as with the Palestinian-Israeli situation, the festering malaise at the heart of Middle Eastern consciousness and identity. While Halliday's book examines the causes of what has happened, it also provides a reasoned approach as to what the future may hold.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #75384 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
'By far the best book on the catastrophe of 11 September.' The Observer 'Cuts the proverbial ice.' Daily Star 'Sober and balanced.' John Gray, The New Statesman 'To understand 11 September we need a broader context and Halliday is up to the task ... He reveals his true calibre.' Ziauddin Sardar, The Independent 'I agree with the analysis in Fred Halliday's excellent book.' David Aaronovitch, The Independent

Daily Star, Beirut
'Cuts the proverbial ice.'

John Gray, The New Statesman
'Sober and balanced.'

Customer Reviews

Good, but highly misleading title
Fred Halliday is an expert on the politics of the Middle East (though the phrase 'Middle East' is not one he likes) and a professor of International Relations at the LSE. In this regard, there are few better suited to writing a book which promises to examine the 'Causes and Consequences' of the attacks of September 11. If you wish to buy a book that puts September 11th in its immediate and historical contexts, however, this is perhaps not the book for you. For 'Two Hours that Shook the World' is less an examination of those two hours than an examination of religious fundamentalism, Islamism, global inequality etc. Rather than the specific analysis we are promised (in the title, if not the introduction), we are given a series of articles, most of which were in fact published before September 11. The chapter on terrorism is a case in point, never mentioning the terrorist attacks that prompted the publication of the book.

However, the title of the book is the only major flaw in what is otherwise a thoroughly interesting read: from the intricacies of intra-Islamic tensions, to the Iranian (Islamic) Revolution. This is why you should buy the book, not for its somewhat overhyped title.