Book Review

Gerard Russell’s Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms shows how Islam is not the only religion in the Middle East while displaying the hidden life of centuries old religious communities.

Hamid’s Islamic Exceptionalism argues that Islam is far different from other religions in how it relates to governance, law, and the modern nation-state.

The shocking thing about Michel Houellebecq’s Submission is not that it isn’t anti-Muslim. The shocking thing is that it’s not—or not primarily—anti-Islam.

Lucinda Mosher and David Marshall’s Sin, Forgiveness, & Reconciliation: Christian & Muslim Perspectives examines pivotal differences and shocking similarities between the two religions.

Kenneth Himes’ Drones and the Ethics of Targeted Killing offers an ethical and theological analysis of how we do and should use drones.

In Superforecasting, Tetlock and Gardner argue convincingly that studying how superforecasters think can help other analysts improve their forecasts.

Ian Bremmer’s Superpower gives a good critique about America’s incoherent foreign policy and is a good introduction to different foreign policy choices.

In the early 1800s, Thomas Jefferson led a young America to war against Barbary state thugs whose Islamist political ideology led them to believe they had a divine right to dominate the West. The conditions that led America to victory then remain relevant today.

A Wilderness of Mirrors: Trusting Again in a Cynical World is by no means a defense of Christian realism, nor an appeal for a bold and strong America in the world, but it does offer a positive contribution to those ends by making a number of crucial observations about broken trust and its effects on society.