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Article: The Utopian tendency; Political Islam.('Terror and Liberalism')(Book Review)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- May 3, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In the next two reviews, Paul Berman and Bernard Lewis assess militant Islam
TWO important messages about extremism stand out from this essay about the roots of Muslim fundamentalism. Deep down, Paul Berman tells us, the spirit of violent Islamism is no different from the impulse towards totalitarian Utopias that blighted the West in the 20th century. This is a plausible and appealing view, which makes current threats intelligible to us in light of our own melancholy history. His secondary point is that youneglect intellectuals at your peril, however crazy they sound. Someday, somewhere people may try to kill each other--or you--in the name of their ideas.
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