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Writing a few months prior to her assassination, Bhutto explores the complicated history between the Middle East and the West. She traces the roots of international terrorism across the world, including American support for Pakistani general Zia-ul-Haq, who destroyed political parties, eliminated an independent judiciary, marginalized NGOs, suspended the protection of human rights, and aligned Pakistani intelligence agencies with the most radical elements of the Afghan mujahideen. She speaks out not just to the West, but to the Muslims across the globe who are at a crossroads between the past and the future, between education and ignorance, between peace and terrorism, and between dictatorship and democracy. Democracy and Islam are not incompatible, and the clash between Islam and the West is not inevitable.--From publisher description.… (more)
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Benazir Bhutto pulls no punches, she lays blame on the West,
The desperately depressing thing about this book is that I was able to buy it for £1 from Pound Stretchers! A work, such as this, ought to be read by every citizen of the world! We need more understanding, the desire to work together to improve life for all God's children, however they pray to him.
The book breaks down
Following a lengthy and tangential history of Pakistan, Bhutto concludes by taking on the “clash of civilizations” theory. She contends that the coming battle will not be between Islam and the West, but among Muslim states, with “the forces of moderation and modernity and the competing forces of extremism and fanaticism.” In order for the forces of moderation to win this battle, however, they need support from the West. Gender equality must be created and a functioning civil society (specifically educational and non-governmental organizations) is absolutely crucial to the creation and extension of a democratic Muslim world.
Bhutto’s ideas are solid. I think she goes a bit far in blaming the western world for the current state of affairs in the Muslim world but, overall, I would recommend this book to anyone hoping to understand the current state of democracy in Islamic nations and to understand the steps that will be necessary in order to create stable democratic governments.
It's an informative work, although you do have to do a bit of work to separate the absolute facts from Bhutto's politics. In terms of writing style, the book suffers somewhat from being a bit rambling and redundant at times. Perhaps Bhutto’s thoughts would have been better suited as a long essay than a book-length work (or two long essays - one on democracy in the Islamic world and one on the so-called clash of civilizations). As it is, it seems as though Bhutto was writing almost stream-of-consciousness at times, without realizing that she had already said something nearly identical or that she moved from one topic to another without transition. Nevertheless, her clear intelligence makes this situation better than it would be in less able hands. For audiophiles, Rita Wolf was a fine choice for narrator in the audio version. However, in hindsight, Bhutto's autobiographical Daughter of Destiny would probably have been a better choice for me.