About this title: This account of his travels to four countries of the Islamic world, by a writer who was born in Trinidad and lives in England, is definitely an outsider's view, and aroused immediate controversy upon its publication.
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Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. 0394711955 Condition: VERY GOOD. (Book may have one or a combination of the following characteristics: former library book, cover wear, name written inside cover, light underlining/highlighting, remainder mark, etc. Overall, the book is in solid shape. This is a blanket description. Please email us if you require a specific, detailed description of the book condition. We will typically respond within one week of your request). read more
Description: Acceptable. 1982-Paperback----Used-Acceptable-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Description: Very good. By V.S. Naipaul; ISBN: 0394711955; Pub. : Vintage; Pub. Date: 1982-07-12; Media: Paperback; Weight: 13.12 oz.; Minor cover wear. Inside is very good, although somewhat faded. by V.S. Naipaul; ISBN: 0394711955; Pub. : Vintage; Pub. Date: 1982-07-12; Media: Paperback; Weight: 13.12 oz.; Minor cover wear. Inside is very good, although somewhat faded. read more
Binding: S Trade Paperback
Publisher: Random House Inc, Westminster, Maryland, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780394711959ISBN:0394711955
Description: As New. Mint condition, good as new book. Appears never to have been read. Clean, tight, lustrous cover, perfect spine and solid binding. Penned by a Nobel Prize winner--you'll squeal with glee on receipt! ! ! read more
"This book is brutal. Naipaul is a fantastic novelist, but he's a bit of a crank as an essayist and travel writer. The full range of his controversial misanthropy is on display in this collection, where Naipaul reduces all complex social phenomena to the toxic admixture of Islam and local cultures."
"Very well written, like his other books, and interesting, informative analysis of interplay between Islam and preexisting religions, as well as the effot to combine religion with government."
"I hardly read Naipaul for what the books contain anymore. I know I will disagree -- occassionally quite strongly -- I know there will be moments that will appall me -- when he's needlessly aggressive or mean or, for that matter, judgmental about people he's just met ('I should be ready at 7:30. He came some minutes before eight. He was in his late twenties, small and carefully dressed, handsome, with a well-barbered head of hair. I didn't like him.') -- but then you're transported by the sheer power of imagery and detail, at the many layers of observation piled on layers of observation, at the prose that appears almost effortless and yet is the product of great labor.
Among the Believers is the account of Naipaul's travels through four muslim countries in the early 80s. The book is interesting in its little details and imagery, but you know the man set out to be-little and scorn the nations and their attempts at islamization, if you can call it that. He'd reached his conclusion before he set out, then went out to prove his point. Naipaul doesn't really seem curious here, he wants his prejudices about islam -- its backwardness, en shackling nature, aggressive posture -- reinforced and proven correct.
Perhaps the section that I found best, or most palatable, was that on Pakistan. Despite Naipaul's quite obvious bias, you can almost see the roots of Pakistan's present-day troubles, at one level, being created on the pages in front of you. The government, desperate for legitimacy, is turning towards Islam; the sharia is allowed, though never imposed. There's the constant tension between the material needs of the west -- the roads, bridges, planes -- and the somber sterility that some interpretators of Islam would like to see.
His concluding sentence about Pakistan -- "...looking not many steps ahead, to see how in Pakistan, by the very excess of fundamentalism, Islam might be preparing for its own transformation" -- contains an odd, almost prescient statement. Indeed men, by their very excess of their fundamentalism, would one day transform it in the eye of much of the world.
"I read this book when I was living in the Middle East and it was a refreshing depiction from an outsider of my world at the time, where I had thought everything was okay. I was grateful for the new perspective he gave me, leading me to realize that I could never make the Middle East my permanenet residence. Reading this book was one of the many gentle nudges I received during that time to try and find another place to call home."
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