"Spiralling violence in the Middle East, the ever-present echoes of Jihadist extremism and President George Bush's identification of an 'axis of evil' have all raised the spectre of a future dominated by the conflict between 'Islam' and 'the West'. From theories such as Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations to the anti-Western rhetoric of many Muslim militants themselves, this image of confrontation has come to be widely accepted. At the same time, the many issues afflicting the Middle East itself are widely seen as reflecting the influence of Islam on the politics and society of this region." "Fred Halliday sets out to reject these interpretations in this classic work, revised to encompass the crucially important events of recent months. Considering the sources of Islamic militancy and analyzing the confrontational rhetoric of both Islamic and anti-Muslim demagogues, he provides an alternative, critical but cautious, reassessment. The Middle East, he argues, can be treated neither as a distinct not as a unified region, but must be seen as a set of disparate societies, facing and reacting to the problems of economic development and political change."--Jacket.