How to Fight Islamist Terror from the Missionary Position

How to Fight Islamist Terror from the Missionary Position
Author: Tabish Khair
Publisher: Interlink Publishing
Total Pages: 166
Release: 2014-01-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1623710464

A HILARIOUS, SATIRICAL NOVEL FROM AWARD-WINNING INDIAN WRITER. Funny and sad, satirical and humane, this novel tells the interlinked stories of three unforgettable men whose trajectories cross in Denmark: the flamboyant Ravi, the fundamentalist Karim, and the unnamed and pragmatic Pakistani narrator. As the unnamed narrator copes with his divorce, and Ravi—despite his exterior of skeptical flamboyance—falls deeply in love with a beautiful woman who is incapable of responding in kind, Karim, their landlord, goes on with his job as a taxi driver and his regular Friday Qur’an sessions. But is he going on with something else? Who is Karim? And why does he disappear suddenly at times or receive mysterious phone calls? When a “terrorist attack” takes place in town, all three men find themselves embroiled in doubt, suspicion, and, perhaps, danger. An acerbic commentary on the times, How to Fight Islamist Terror from the Missionary Position is also a bitter-sweet, spell-binding novel about love and life today.

American Self-Radicalizing Terrorists and the Allure of "Jihadi Cool/Chic"

American Self-Radicalizing Terrorists and the Allure of
Author: Caroline Picart
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2017-03-07
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1443874728

American Self-Radicalizing Terrorists and the Allure of Jihadi Cool/Chic provides a critical legal analysis of how American self-radicalizing terrorists become what they are by analyzing, in detail, the stories of Colleen LaRose, America’s first Most Wanted Female Terrorist, and the Tsarnaev brothers, Tamerlan and Jahar (Dzhokhar), the Boston Marathon Bombers. Drawing from the analytic tools of cutting-edge studies on terrorism by global experts, as well as the latest news reports, policy papers, Congressional Hearings, and legal documents, the book illustrates how the internet provides the means through which a self-activating terrorist may first self-radicalize through some imaginary or sympathetic connection with an organized terrorist network. Additionally, it shows how the romance of “jihadi cool/chic,” packaged by its mastery of Hollywood-style shots and editing, resulting in slick, high resolution productions micro-tailored to appeal to different audiences, is a pivotal factor in the evolution of self-radicalizing terrorists. While showing how there is no single deterministic pathway to radicalization, the book also demonstrates how the internet and imagined relations cemented by the rhetorics of “jihadi cool” or “jihadi chic” function as crucial catalysts, galvanizing “monster talk” into monstrous action. It includes an analysis of “America’s Most Watched Trial,” United States v. Tsarnaev, as it moved through its “guilt” and “penalty” phases, and its culmination in Jahar’s being sentenced to death by lethal injection as America’s youngest self-radicalizing terrorist. The book closes with concise updates regarding America’s self-radicalizing terrorists, such as, among others, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the couple who sprayed a crowd of their colleagues with bullets at a San Bernardino holiday party on December 2, 2015; Omar Mateen, the security guard whose rampage at an Orlando nightclub on June 12, 2016 resulted in America’s worst mass shooting thus far; and Ahmad Khan Rahami, the individual arrested in relation to the New York and New Jersey bombings and attempted bombings on September 17-18, 2016.

The Bus Stopped

The Bus Stopped
Author: Tabish Khair
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2012-07-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1447230930

A very angry bus driver, abandoned by his wife and going nowhere in his career; a sanctimonious conductor; a hijra, or eunuch, a remnant of India's Muslim glory days; a nervous, half-Indian businessman clutching a briefcase-full of cash; a right-wing Hindu matriarch; a young boy returning to his village after robbing his employer . . . They meet – and witness a tragic event – only because they are all travelling on the same bus, in the same direction, on the same day. With exceptional poise and beguiling simplicity, Khair introduces a range of voices, thoughts, ideas and identities, allowing each individual’s story to unfold gradually. ‘A novel that reflects deeply into the nature and circumstances of human mobility in our modern, unforgiving world’ Siddhartha Deb, Outlook ‘There is much to enjoy here . . . The twist at the end is hilarious. Khair’s talent is as a miniaturist’ Fiona Hook, The Times ‘It’s a fine work: short, sweet and brutal’ James Smart, Sunday Herald ‘A lyrical journey through small-town India’ Independent ‘[The Bus Stopped] allows stories to emerge with immediacy and leisure, with abrupt shafts of humour’ Guardian

The Body by the Shore

The Body by the Shore
Author: Tabish Khair
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2022-09-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9356292906

Harris Malouf, a killer with an erased official past, is visited by someone who could not be alive. In Aarhus, police officer Jens Erik cannot forget the body of a black man recovered from the sea some years ago. On an abandoned oil rig in the North Sea, Michelle, a young Caribbean woman, realizes that the man she has followed to this job is not what he claims to be. Set in the post-pandemic world around 2030, but moving back in time to cover all of the 21st century, The Body by the Shore is a novel about reason and emotion, love and despair, greed and hope. When all the narrative strands come together, a world of great terror and beauty is revealed.

The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda

The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda
Author: Fawaz A. Gerges
Publisher: OUP USA
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2011-09-14
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199790655

The author re-evaluates the threat posed by Al-Qaeda following a decade of war.

Jihad and Death

Jihad and Death
Author: Olivier Roy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 138
Release: 2017
Genre: History
ISBN: 1849046980

Islamic State has replaced Al Qaeda as the great global threat of the twenty-first century, the bogeyman we have all come to fear. But Daesh started as a local movement, rooted in the resentment of the Sunni Arabs of Iraq and Syria. It is they who have lost most in the geo-strategic shift in the balance of power in the region over the last thirty years, as Iranian-backed Shias have mobilised politically and advanced on the social and economic fronts. How has Islamic State been able to muster support far beyond its initial constituency in the Arab world and to attract tens of thousands of foreign volunteers, including converts to Islam, and seemingly countless supporters online? In this compelling intervention into the debate about Islamic State's origins and future prospects, the renowned French sociologist of religion, Olivier Roy, argues that the group mobilised a highly sophisticated narrative, reviving the myth of the Caliphate and recasting it into a modern story of heroism, death and nihilism, using a very contemporary aesthetic of violence, well entrenched amid a youth culture that has turned global and violent.

Journey of the Jihadist

Journey of the Jihadist
Author: Fawaz A. Gerges
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2007
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780156031707

"Middle Eastern expert and media commentator Gerges takes us into the mindset of the jihadi, or holy warrior, that lies behind so many front-page headlines yet remains nearly impenetrable. Even before the 9/11 attacks, Gerges had gone in search of those whose lives were devoted to this crusade of hatred, first against their own secular governments, then against the West and the United States in particular. He talked extensively with Kamal al-Said Habib, a founder of the Jihadist Movement. Using Habib's life story, as well as the stories of dozens of other Islamic fundamentalists, Gerges's book puts a human face to events in the Middle East over the last thirty years, from the civil war in Lebanon to the war in Iraq and the terrorist attacks in London. Behind the jihadism of Habib and others, a battle is being waged for the soul of Islam itself."--Résumé de l'éditeur.

Jihadi Culture

Jihadi Culture
Author: Thomas Hegghammer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2017-06-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107017955

This book studies the art forms and social practices that make up much of the daily life of jihadi culture.

The Closer I Get

The Closer I Get
Author: Paul Burston
Publisher: Orenda Books
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2019-05-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1495655016

A compulsive, disturbingly relevant, twisty and powerful psychological, social-media thriller ... NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER 'Brilliantly twisty. I loved it' Lisa Jewell 'Another dark banger from the Orenda Books stable... A brilliant, twisty cat-and-mouse book about fandom and obsession' Erin Kelly 'Effortlessly readable, intensely chilling. That ending floored me' Chris Whitaker ***LONGLISTED for the Guardian's Not the Booker Prize*** ___________________ Tom is a successful author, but he's struggling to finish his novel. His main distraction is an online admirer, Evie, who simply won't leave him alone. Evie is smart, well read and unstable; she lives with her father and her social-media friendships are not only her escape, but everything she has. When she's hit with a restraining order, her world is turned upside down, and Tom is free to live his life again, to concentrate on writing. But things aren't really adding up. For Tom is distracted but also addicted to his online relationships, and when they take a darker, more menacing turn, he feels powerless to change things. Because maybe he needs Evie more than he's letting on. A compulsive, disturbingly relevant, twisty and powerful psychological thriller, The Closer I Get is also a searing commentary on the fragility and insincerity of online relationships, and the danger that can lurk just one like' away... ___________________ 'This book will make you rethink your social media obsession. Dangerous from page one, lit by bursts of black humour, ultimately honest about the frailty of ego and the masks we all wear. Terrifically readable' Sarah Hilary So good. Such brilliant characters. Great premise and a thrilling read' Nina Pottell, Prima 'A sucker-punch of a twist that took my breath away! Absurdly gripping, and enough to unnerve anyone who has ever spent any time online' Angela Clarke 'As perfect a thriller as you'll read all year' Caz Frear 'A gripping ride through the heartlands of need and hurt. Even at his most thrilling, Paul Burston never loses his sense of real pain and suffering' Philip Hensher 'Chillingly recognisable. A delicious tour de force' Alex Marwood 'Compelling, creepy and completely believable' Mel McGrath 'Dark, devious and with a growing sense of dread' Neil Broadfoot 'Brilliantly written, tense and compelling' Amanda Jennings 'Dark twisty fiction at its very best' SJI Holliday 'One of the best books you'll read this year' Ed James 'Unsettling. Taut. Menacing. Burston puts the killer into killer twist' Jonathan Harvey 'Witty and insightful' Susie Boyt 'Brilliant, chilling, totally awesome writing' Miranda Dickinson 'An absolute stunner... with a deliciously twisted ending' Lisa Hall 'The book is a masterpiece in sustained suspense and smart literate contemporary horror. Bravo Mr Burston' Derek Farrell 'Very easy to read, certainly keeps you hooked in with plenty of twists. I suspect it will be a big read this summer' Fiona Sharp 'It's about a gay novelist who becomes the target of an online stalker and is dark, thought-provoking, and totally riveting. As comebacks go, it's on a par with Madonna bursting out of a giant disco ball in a pink leotard!’ Matt Cain ‘Gripped and terrified by Paul Burston’s new novel, bloody hell!!!’ Rowan Coleman