The essays in Islam and the West: Critical Perspectives on Modernity approach the interactions of Islam, the West, and modernity through overlapping social, historical, economic, cultural, and philosophical layers. Viewed through this complex prism of analysis, the full dimensions of the relationship become clear and the result is a deeper understanding of the nature of modernity and how other societies can relate to each other.

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Muslims and the West: A Paradigm for Polarization Chapter 3 Islam, Modernity and the Dialectic of Dogmatism Chapter 4 The Deficiency of Democracy in the Islamic World Chapter 5 The Roots of Terror Chapter 6 Europe in the Mirror of the Contemporary Middle East: Aspects of Modern European History Reconsidered Chapter 7 Deconstructing Arab-Islamic History: A Discussion of its Evolutionary Dynamics Chapter 8 Critical Theory and the Islamic Encounter with Modernity Chapter 9 Second Letter on Algeria Chapter 10 A Wild Goose Chase: To Cope, Must Islam "Westernize"?

Edited by Michael J. Thompson - Contributions by Ömer Çaha; Wadood Hamad; Sandra Halperin; Lauren Langman; Douglas Morris; Haroun Er-Rashid; Nissim Rejwan; Michael J. Thompson; Alexis De Tocqueville and Farzin Vahdat