Want to know what books Jason Burke recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Jason Burke's favorite book recommendations of all time.
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THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
A Finalist for the George Orwell Book Prize
“It would be absurd to think that a book can cause riots,” Salman Rushdie asserted just months before the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses. But that’s exactly what happened. In England, protests started just months after the book’ s publication, with Muslim protestors, mainly from immigrant backgrounds, coming by the thousands from the outer suburbs of London and from England’s old industrial centers—places like Bradford, Bolton, and Macclesfield—to denounce Rushdie’s novel... more THE #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
A Finalist for the George Orwell Book Prize
“It would be absurd to think that a book can cause riots,” Salman Rushdie asserted just months before the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses. But that’s exactly what happened. In England, protests started just months after the book’ s publication, with Muslim protestors, mainly from immigrant backgrounds, coming by the thousands from the outer suburbs of London and from England’s old industrial centers—places like Bradford, Bolton, and Macclesfield—to denounce Rushdie’s novel as blasphemous and to burn it. In February of 1988, the protests spread to Pakistan, where riots broke out, killing five. That same month, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini called for Rushdie’s assassination, and for the killing of anyone involved with the book’ s publication.
It was this frightening chain of events, Kenan Malik argues in his enlightened personal and political account of the period, that transformed the relationship between Islam and the West: From then on, Islam was a domestic issue for residents of Europe and the United States, a matter of terror and geopolitics that was no longer geographically constrained to the Middle East and South Asia.
Malik investigates the communities from which the anti-Rushdie activists emerged, showing the subtleties of immigrant life in 1980s England. He depicts the growth of the anti-racist and Asian youth movements, and shows how young Britons went from supporting these progressive movements to embracing a conservative strain of Islam. Malik also controversially tackles England’s peculiar strain of “multiculturalism,” arguing that policymakers there failed to integrate Muslim immigrants, which many politicians saw as incompatible with their own “Western values.” It was a perception that led many to appeal to Muslims not as citizens, but as people whose primary loyalty was to their faith and who could be engaged only by their “community leaders.” It was a also policy that encouraged Muslims to view themselves as semi-detached citizens—and that inevitably played into the hands of radical Islamists.
Twenty years later, the questions raised by the Rushdie affair—Islam’s relationship to the West, the meaning of multiculturalism, the limits of tolerance in a liberal society—have become the defining issues of our time. less 
Jason BurkeI liked the book for a variety of reasons. It is well written and well researched and makes a series of good points. The most interesting point to me was about identity. Kenan Malik’s own background is as a left-wing activist and campaigner. This book is all about the fatwa which came out against Salman Rushdie after he wrote his book The Satanic Verses in 1988. (Source)
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Joseph Conrad, Roger Tennant | 3.60
The Secret Agent is the unsurpassed ancestor of a long series of twentieth-century novels and films which explore the confused motives that lie at the heart of political terrorism. In its use of powerful psychological insight to intensify narrative suspense, it set the terms by which subsequent works in its genre were created. Conrad was the first novelist to discover the strange in-between territory of the political exile, and his genius was such that we still have no truer map of that region's moral terrain than his story of a terrorist plot and its tragic consequences for the guilty... more The Secret Agent is the unsurpassed ancestor of a long series of twentieth-century novels and films which explore the confused motives that lie at the heart of political terrorism. In its use of powerful psychological insight to intensify narrative suspense, it set the terms by which subsequent works in its genre were created. Conrad was the first novelist to discover the strange in-between territory of the political exile, and his genius was such that we still have no truer map of that region's moral terrain than his story of a terrorist plot and its tragic consequences for the guilty and innocent alike.
Introduction by Paul Theroux less Jason BurkeBasically, anything you want to know about how terrorism works you can find in this book. It is not necessarily about who is behind terrorism because in this book it is a shadowy foreign state that wants an agent provocateur in London to explode Greenwich Observatory to make a point. (Source)
Iain SinclairThere are lots of reasons I’m very fond of Conrad as a writer. I like visions of London that come translated or diffused or refracted through other cultures. In that way, I suppose, I like this book in the same way I like my first choice, the Céline. Coming here out of his Polish background, Conrad picked up on the elements you were talking about in terms of Dickens — the city as a labyrinth of... (Source)
Jessica SternYes, I thought I was being clever and unique and didn’t realise so many other people had made the connection. The book is based on an incident that actually did occur when an anarchist tried to blow up the Royal Observatory. In the novel, a group of hapless anarchists are trying to incite a rebellion. Their main concern is that British society is too liberal and they want to demonstrate that this... (Source)
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هذا الكتاب عبارة عن أطروحة دكتوراه مترجمة للباحث النرويجي توماس هيغهامر، الذي قضى أعواماً يطارد تفاصيل الحالة الجهادية بالسعودية، منذ نشأتها، وتكوّنها، وروافدها الفكرية، ثم تصاعد المواجهات، وانتقالها للسعودية.
الكتاب يدور حول موضوع في غاية الحساسية والتشعّب، ولا يمكن لعمل بحثي بسيط الإلمام بتفاصيله، إلا أن هذا الكتاب جمع أطرافه بشكل مُبهر، حيث حوى كل التفاصيل التي نعرفها والتي لا نعرفها عن كل ما فعله تنظيم القاعدة في جزيرة العرب منذ ما قبل 11 سبتمبر وحتى نهاية 2009م.
بدأ الباحث بالحديث عن أفغانستان التي مثلت مهد تشكل الحالة الجهادية، كيف سافر السعوديون إلى أفغانستان،... more هذا الكتاب عبارة عن أطروحة دكتوراه مترجمة للباحث النرويجي توماس هيغهامر، الذي قضى أعواماً يطارد تفاصيل الحالة الجهادية بالسعودية، منذ نشأتها، وتكوّنها، وروافدها الفكرية، ثم تصاعد المواجهات، وانتقالها للسعودية.
الكتاب يدور حول موضوع في غاية الحساسية والتشعّب، ولا يمكن لعمل بحثي بسيط الإلمام بتفاصيله، إلا أن هذا الكتاب جمع أطرافه بشكل مُبهر، حيث حوى كل التفاصيل التي نعرفها والتي لا نعرفها عن كل ما فعله تنظيم القاعدة في جزيرة العرب منذ ما قبل 11 سبتمبر وحتى نهاية 2009م.
بدأ الباحث بالحديث عن أفغانستان التي مثلت مهد تشكل الحالة الجهادية، كيف سافر السعوديون إلى أفغانستان، وكيف عاشوا، وتدربوا، وتشكلت أفكارهم. وتكلم عن موقف الدولة من الجهاد في أفغانستان، وعن موقف دعاة الصحوة، وموقف الإخوان، وطغيان سفر أبناء الحجاز إلى هناك مقابل المناطق الأخرى. وتطرق بالتفصيل لمشاركة السعوديين في الجهاد بالبوسنة، والشيشان، وطاجيكستان، وكوسوفا، بل وحتى في الجزائر وأرتيريا وأثيوبيا والصومال.
وتطرق الكتاب لما حدث بالسعودية في عقد التسعينيات، انتفاضة بريدة، ومواجهة تيار الصحوة، وتفجيرات الرياض في 1995م، وظهور الحالة الجهادية. وتحدث بالتفصيل عن تشكل المسار الفكري، ما أسماه مدرسة "حمود العقلا الشعيبي"، والقريبين منه: ناصر الفهد، وعلي الخضير، وأحمد الخالدي. إضافة للحديث عن أسماء عديدة، مثل: سليمان العلوان، عبدالله السعد، سلمان العودة، وسواهم.. وعن التحولات الفكرية والسياسية التي حصلت لهم داخل السجن.
ثم تحدث الكتاب عن بداية التأسيس العلني لتنظيم القاعدة عام 1998م، وبداية تشكيل خلاياه في السعودية، ولماذا شارك 15 سعودي في أحداث 11 سبتمبر. وعما جرى في السجون للشباب الجهادي، ومراحل اعتقالاتهم قبل 11 سبتمبر وبعده، وعن فترات المطاردة والتعذيب، وفترات المهاودة وغض الطرف. ثم دخل في رواية فصول ما حدث في السعودية بعد أحداث 11 سبتمبر، وعن تشكيل الخلايا، وطغيان الحضور النجدي مقابل الحجازيين وأبناء المناطق الأخرى. وعن التنظيمين الجهاديين المتوازيين الذين أسسهما بن لادن بجزيرة العرب، وكيف اكتُشف أحدهما قبل بدأ موجة العنف، فبدأ الآخر في المواجهة.
وفي الكتاب يجيب الباحث بالتفصيل عن سؤال: كيف جنّد تنظيم القاعدة الشباب السعودي للانضمام له؟.. وعن طبيعة أدوار مسؤولي التجنيد في التنظيم. وفيه حديثٌ تفصيلي عن أدوار القياديين في القاعدة: عبدالرحيم الناشري، يوسف العييري، عبدالعزيز المقرن، تركي الدندني، وأحمد الدخيّل، وعيسى العوشن، فارس الزهراني، خالد الحاج، صالح العوفي، عبدالله الرشود، وكل الأسماء التي شاركت في عمليات القاعدة بالسعودية وخارجها. وعن الحرب الإلكترونية التي خاضها تنظيم القاعدة للتجنيد، والحشد، وإصدار البيانات، وتبرير الهجمات، وشرح المواقف، وعن رسائل بن لادن. وعن التنظيم الآخر الذي أنشأه تنظيم القاعدة كي يقوم بأداء "المهام القذرة" التي لا يريد تنظيم القاعدة تحمّل تبعات تبنيها حتى لا يخسر جمهوره.
الكتاب يحوي حديثاً تفصيلياً عن كل الأسماء، والأحداث، والمواجهات، والخلايا في تنظيم القاعدة بجزيرة العرب، وفيه معلومات كثيرة لم تنشر من قبل، ويحتوي على ملاحق وجداول كثيرة توثق بشكل مكثف لأهم العمليات، والأسماء، والمراحل، وحتى السن، والتعليم، وإلى أي مناطق المملكة ينتمي أفراد القاعدة. ويتضمن الكتاب تحليلاً رصيناً وموضوعياً للحالة الجهادية، حتى أن البعض اتهم الباحث بأنه متعاطف مع تنظيم القاعدة، فرد بأنه ليس متعاطفاً، ولكنه في موقع توصيف، ورصد، وتحليل، وليس إدانة. less Jason BurkeYes, I have chosen it because it is a very, very good example of the sort of books you need if you are working in this field. It is meticulous, it is neutral, it is detailed and it is written with one sole aim in mind, which is to tell people what is happening, what has happened and why it has happened, in terms of radical Muslims and Islamic militants in a key country. (Source)
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The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington were carried out by men steeped in a certain Islamic ideology, which has come to be called Islamism. In A Fury for God, Malise Ruthven first reconstructs the events of September 11 and the war in Afghanistan. He traces the role of the idea of "jihad" and examines the permissibility of suicide in Islam, and reconstructs the world view of Islamist intellectuals like Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian thinker who has influenced an entire generation of radicals in the Arab world, notably Osama bin Laden. He also shows that it would be a mistake to... more The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington were carried out by men steeped in a certain Islamic ideology, which has come to be called Islamism. In A Fury for God, Malise Ruthven first reconstructs the events of September 11 and the war in Afghanistan. He traces the role of the idea of "jihad" and examines the permissibility of suicide in Islam, and reconstructs the world view of Islamist intellectuals like Sayyid Qutb, the Egyptian thinker who has influenced an entire generation of radicals in the Arab world, notably Osama bin Laden. He also shows that it would be a mistake to treat these people as medieval fanatics—their attitude to modernity is dangerous and ambivalent. And in a changing analysis, the author exposes the crucial importance of the Saudi connection, the massive sponsorship of "fundamentalism" by an authoritarian tribal regime that has been tolerated by the international community for the sake of Western economic stability. Ruthven's identification of the ambiguities in Western policy is powerfully provocative. less Jason BurkeMalise Ruthven is one of the grand writers on the Islamic world and on Islam. He also wrote The Islamic World, which is a classic, and I was thinking about choosing that. But A Fury for God is a book that I learnt an awful lot from. Often with books it is what they bring to you. What Ruthven was saying in 2002 immediately after 9/11 has been said and re-said many times since. I read this book in... (Source)
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The late twentieth century has witnessed the emergence of an unexpected and extraordinary phenomenon: Islamist political movements. Beginning in the early 1970s, militants revolted against the regimes in power throughout the Muslim world and exacerbated political conflicts everywhere. Their jihad, or "Holy Struggle," aimed to establish a global Islamic state based solely on a strict interpretation of the Koran. Religious ideology proved a cohesive force, gathering followers ranging from students and the young urban poor to middle-class professionals.After an initial triumph with the Islamic... more The late twentieth century has witnessed the emergence of an unexpected and extraordinary phenomenon: Islamist political movements. Beginning in the early 1970s, militants revolted against the regimes in power throughout the Muslim world and exacerbated political conflicts everywhere. Their jihad, or "Holy Struggle," aimed to establish a global Islamic state based solely on a strict interpretation of the Koran. Religious ideology proved a cohesive force, gathering followers ranging from students and the young urban poor to middle-class professionals.After an initial triumph with the Islamic revolution in Iran, the movement waged jihad against the USSR in Afghanistan, proclaiming for the first time a doctrine of extreme violence. By the end of the 1990s, the failure to seize political power elsewhere led to a split: movement moderates developed new concepts of "Muslim democracy" while extremists resorted to large-scale terrorist attacks around the world.
"Jihad" is the first extensive, in-depth attempt to follow the history and geography of this disturbing political-religious phenomenon. Fluent in Arabic, Kepel has traveled throughout the Muslim world gathering documents, interviews, and archival materials inaccessible to most scholars, in order to give us a comprehensive understanding of the scope of Islamist movements, their past, and their present. As we confront the threat of terrorism to our lives and liberties, Gilles Kepel helps us make sense of the ominous reality of jihad today. less Jason BurkeKepel is one of the best-known French experts on Islamic militancy. And the French, for a variety of reasons, have produced much of the best analysis of Islamic militancy over the years, pre- and post-9/11. It is partly due to their own history and partly due to their interest in social sciences. It is also partly due to government investment very early on. (Source)
Turi MuntheGilles Kepel is another brilliant French academic who again demonstrates the excellent sociological work of the French in this area. The idea behind this book was to explain where and how the ideas of Jihad originated. Kepel deals with a shorter sweep of history than Roy but gives an excellent overview of the movements that created political Islam. He is particularly interesting from late 1970s... (Source)
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