Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam - Tapa blanda

'This is a landmark book, a work of breadth and scope and scholarship, and genuine imaginative powers. It should be the standard work on political Islam.' - Fouad Ajami, author of Dream Palace of the Arabs: A Generation's Odyssey; 'simply excellent' - Malise Ruthven, Prospect; 'Kepel's work... spans the world of political Islam, from the assassination of Egypt's President Anwar Sadat, to the establishment of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network in Afghanistan. He has the knack of explaining how events in one part of the Islamic world have affected developments elsewhere.' -Anton La Guardia, Telegraph; 'a concentrated multidimensional study... indispensable to anyone serious about understanding a troubled political-religious movement' - Frank Shouldice, Irish Independent; 'No-one else has attempted so bold an overview of the Islamist phenomenon. Of all the books on this subject, this is the most challenging and the most illuminating.' - The Economist; 'deeply researched, deeply measured and deeply instructive - the best survey available and likely to remain so' - Justin Wintle, Sunday Times

In recent years, the world order has been rocked by an explosive, unexpected and extraordinary phenomenon: political Islam. Beginning in the early 1970s, militants revolted against the regimes in power across the Muslim world and exacerbated political conflicts internationally. Their jihad - or 'Holy Struggle' - aimed to establish a global Islamic state based solely on a strict interpretation of the Qur'an. "Jihad" is the first comprehensive attempt to follow the history and spread of this new political-religious phenomenon today, from the rise of Al Qaeda to the explosion of support for Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad in the wake of the Second Palestinian Intifada. It is the definitive work on what the West has called 'Islamic Fundamentalism', and offers the boldest assessment of its past, its present, and where it might lead in the future. "Jihad" is vital reading for everyone concerned with the state of the world today.