This book traces the essence of the Islamist Revolution from its origins in Egypt, through Najf, Lebanon, Iran and the Iranian Revolution to today. Alastair Crooke presents a compelling account of the ideas and energy which are mobilsing the Islamic world.  The story of the emerging Islamist Revolution is largely one of an Islamic response to western thinking based around individualism and personal relationships with the divine, juxtaposed to the Islamist demand to place human values above politics and self-interest. Crooke argues that the West faces a mass mobilisation against the US-led Western project. The roots of this conflict are described in terms of religious themes that extend back over 500 years. They represent clashing systems of thinking and values. Islamists have a vision for the future of their own societies which would entail radical change from Western norms. Resistance is presented as the means to force Western behaviour to change and to expose the essential differences between the two modes of thinking.  This is a rigourous account that traces the threads of revolution of various movements, including the influence of ""political Shi'ism"" and the Iranian Revolution and its impact on Hezbollah and Hamas.

""Crooke's mission in this erudite, and most readable, book is to reassure the White Folks in George Bush's America (and elsewhere in the world) that Hamas, Hezbollah and the seemingly menacing Islamic governments in Iran and elsewhere are not the enemies of the West. His mission is to educate us about the history and philosophy of the Islamic world, and its various factions, and to show how peaceful coexistence is more than possible, if the yahoos who have been running the Global War on Terror would take the time to learn, and find ways to talk.  Be forewarned, however -- this is not 'Islam for Dummies,' but a scholarly and closely argued critique of what passes for Western diplomacy today."" -- Seymour M. Hersh, the New Yorker magazine

""This book is required reading at a time when alternative perspectives on the causes of global terrorism and new Western diplomatic initiatives urgently need to replace the failed policies of the Bush administration-led 'War on Global Terrorism' ."" -- John Esposito, University Professor, Georgetown University