In this ground-breaking exploration of the roots of the conflict between the US and the Muslim World, LeVine argues that the notion that most Muslims hate the US and the West is a fabrication used to help fundamentalists on both sides to maintain political, economic or cultural power. Offering a critique of those central to the branding of Islam as a source of violence and backward-thinking, LeVine contetst the apread of what he calles an Axis of Arrogance and Ignorance by advocating an Axis of Empathy as the only strategy that can bring about a long-term solution.

Author Biography

Mark LeVine is Associate Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of California, Irvine. As an activist, he has worked with several groups within the global peace and justice movement and spoken at some of its seminal gatherings, including the Prague S26 Countersummit against the IMF in 2000. As a journalist he has written widely in the US and European press, including Le Monde, the Christian Science Monitor, Middle East Report, and Asia Times.