Rating: 
Summary: Informative, leaves the judgment to the analyst
Review: At first glance, I figured that this would be just some anti-Islamic ranting by some silly Western infidel. (What would you expect with such a title and cover photo?) Frankly, I was surprised and impressed with what I read. The tone seemed very inviting to me, and probably to all others interested. Page by page, Robin puts forth great detail with seemingly no pressure to please any point of view. However, she did maybe commit an overkill on the "fundamentalist extremist militant fanatic" vocabulary. But still, her tone forces the reader to accept the terms literally, and not with the hate-filled spirit as seen in other publications. I recommend those interested in the topic to check this one out. God bless, and strive for peace and justice.
Rating:
Summary: Informative, leaves the judgment to the analyst
Review: At first glance, I figured that this would be just some anti-Islamic ranting by some silly Western infidel. (What would you expect with such a title and cover photo?) Frankly, I was surprised and impressed with what I read. The tone seemed very inviting to me, and probably to all others interested. Page by page, Robin puts forth great detail with seemingly no pressure to please any point of view. However, she did maybe commit an overkill on the "fundamentalist extremist militant fanatic" vocabulary. But still, her tone forces the reader to accept the terms literally, and not with the hate-filled spirit as seen in other publications. I recommend those interested in the topic to check this one out. God bless, and strive for peace and justice.
Rating: 
Summary: THE TRUE FACE OF TERROR
Review: For years Robin Wright has been telling the world that radical Islam is only about legitimate grievances and that the real culprits are the Western powers, especially the United States.
She has tried to act as an apologist for the mullahs of Iran and the Hezbollah gang in Lebanon.
In this new edition of her old book she has tried to modify some of her positions, shedding some illusions.
Clearly, the shock of 9/11 has goaded her back into reality- only partially, alas! She is still not prepared to admit that she was wrong in her first edition.
What she does not understand is that you cannot go around preaching blue murder in the name of religion without producing the suicide terrorists we witness in Israel today.
The truth is that radical Islam inevitably leads to terrorism. And no cause, no matter how noble, could justify terrorism.
Wright belongs to the old style of Western bleeding-heart liberals who would always justify the other side because of their own guilty feeling.
They would be on the side of King Kong in its destruction of New York if only because the beast was plucked out of its habitat by capitalists loking for oil!
For a better understanding of what Islamist terrorism is and does
you could do no better than go to two exceptional books.
The first is Amir Taheri's " Holy Terror: Inside the World of Islamic Terrorism" which tells you the truth that Wright and people like her have tried to hide from Western audiences for years. Taheri is a Muslim himself and understand the phenomenon from within and with no tricks to hdie the truth. The second is V.S. Naipaul's " Amongst The Believers" who give syou the socio-cultural background of a culture that breeds terrorism. Naipaul, a great novelist, shows how seemingly ordinary people can become ruthless killers in the name of their militant faith.
Wright's book, a poorly written example of superficial reporting and pretentious pontification, is interesting only as a warning to the West not to misunderstand its enemies, who are also enemies of Islam . Pierre Benedile
Rating: 
Summary: Easy read , informative
Review: In todays geo-political climate , its hard to get balanced views on an issue that has touched us all deeply in the past year . Passions run high and impassioned and reactionary responses from many quarters make the subject matter difficult to dissect , let alone understand and digest . While written in the 80's and covering mainly events occuring from the birth of Islam to the 80's , I think the book is still very much applicable in the present day context . It will shed light on why we are seeing a virtual groundswell of antagonism toward the West and all things Western from our Middle east bretheren . Additional chapters on recent events were also helpful in updating the information up to present day . You never get the feeling that the author has taken sides but this in no way translates into an academic lack of passion she feels for her subject . The book basically approaches the subject matter from the standpoint of trying to understand the roots of this groundswell but leaves the reader with ample room to formulate their own conclusions . For the armchair political scientist interested in current affairs .
Rating:
Summary: Updated material strengthens Sacred Rage
Review: Middle Eastern terrorism almost became white noise after hostage taking, embassy bombings, hijackings, and other violent acts lost their novelty. That changed, of course, when the volume was cranked way up on September 11, 2001. There were those who anticipated the crescendo long before it sounded. Los Angeles Times correspondent Robin Wright covered the Iranian revolution, the attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut, and other regional violence and issues in the Eighties. She eloquently documented these events and their larger meaning in her seminal work, Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam, in 1985. Yet in attention span-challenged United States--even among those who read Sacred Rage--the spectacular attacks 16 years later still seemed to come as a complete shock. Many books on Islamism were updated after September 11. The revised editions often consisted of rehashed material with new introductions and a few topical chapters tacked onto the end. This is not the case with the trade paperback version of Sacred Rage. In fact, a very good book has achieved near greatness. Author Robin Wright's groundbreaking exploration of the rise and spread of Islamic fundamentalism does more than give tremendous context to what happened years later in Washington and New York. In a sense, the diverse material now coalesces as Wright explores the recent trend towards democracy among the same militants whose terror she covered in the Eighties. The recent edition even offers plausible solutions to conflicts between the West and the Middle East; glimmers of hope even manage to appear now and again, which should be counterintuitive. The new chapters that involve Osama bin Laden and his view of the future are striking and fit in naturally with the other material. Wright contrasts al-Qaeda's reactionary attempts to turn the clock back to 700 with the yearning among many Iranians and Lebanese for true democracy. This different world view is, to a large degree, the product of the repression of the Shia. This suffering helped give birth to the rage and wrath Wright chronicles, and in an ironic twist the author seems to think these Muslims might be the ones to embrace a democratic and pluralistic Middle East. There are a few problems with the new version. Wright defines the terms "fundamentalism" and "Islamist" differently from some other authors. She uses the former in an almost negative sense, and the latter favorably. Of greater concern, Wright doesn't adequately explain why an Islamist Lebanon would be so radically different from the Sudan or Saudi Arabia. Also, her comparisons between America's Religious Right and Islamic fundamentalists are way over the top in 2003. These are only minor gripes, though. Sacred Rage is more relevant today than it was when first published. Also, Wright has softened her near-apologies for the more extreme behavior she documented. This version sheds light on the struggle between those Muslims who want both democracy and Islam, and those who only want theocracy. That struggle inevitably involves the United States and the West. Sacred Rage suggests the West's interaction with the Muslim world can be constructive. This is preferable to the suggestion of an inevitable clash of civilizations. That gloom and doom scenario usually is offered by those whose knowledge of the region pales in comparison with others who always heard the background noise of potential violence and reported it years before the first plane slammed into the World Trade Center.
Rating:
Summary: Recent History
Review: Sacred Rage covers mostly recent history in the Middle east, from the 1980s forward. But this is the time period of the rise of militant Islam which this book seeks to address. It covers most of the Islamic countries, their leaders and their dissidents. The book talks of the many terrorists attacks and their reasons, the perpetrators and the affects. Has the U.S. position in the Middle East hurt our standing? What has our military done in the Middle East in the last 20 years? How did the U.S. Governments miscalculations hurt us in Islamic eyes? What has Iran's role in world terrorism been? What are the differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims? Why do the Middle Eastern countries and people hate the west so much? For some insights and answers to these and many more questions, read this book. This book goes a long way to explaining the many questions just asked. It explores the sometimes strained relations among the countries of the Middle East with each other. How do Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia get along? This book is insightful and provocative. I recommend it as a start to understanding what has been happening in our world in the last quarter of a century. This book is a good starting place.
Rating:
Summary: Recent History
Review: Sacred Rage covers mostly recent history in the Middle east, from the 1980s forward. But this is the time period of the rise of militant Islam which this book seeks to address. It covers most of the Islamic countries, their leaders and their dissidents. The book talks of the many terrorists attacks and their reasons, the perpetrators and the affects. Has the U.S. position in the Middle East hurt our standing? What has our military done in the Middle East in the last 20 years? How did the U.S. Governments miscalculations hurt us in Islamic eyes? What has Iran's role in world terrorism been? What are the differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims? Why do the Middle Eastern countries and people hate the west so much? For some insights and answers to these and many more questions, read this book. This book goes a long way to explaining the many questions just asked. It explores the sometimes strained relations among the countries of the Middle East with each other. How do Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia get along? This book is insightful and provocative. I recommend it as a start to understanding what has been happening in our world in the last quarter of a century. This book is a good starting place.
Rating:
Summary: Real, needs publicity
Review: The reason why I am writing this review is that this book brings to us what we could never understand unless we lived in the middle east for years. Years since there is in fact a division amongst the people concerning their sentiments towards Americans. This book brings that to light, and gives the reasons.
The fact that many hate Americans comes as no shock, but the many who have rage against Americans and their personal reasons is quite frightening. I have lived between Israel and the Arab nations for many years, this book does in fact relate the real life of these peoples.
I want to recommend a very good book that helps us understand more, why this select group attacked, what will be their next motivation, and even predicted the attack, SB 1 or God by Karl Mark Maddox
Rating:
Summary: Gives a real insight of what's going on in Middle East.
Review: This book is really great and astonishing, especially for western readers!
* It tells why these young men are ready to sacrifice their lives in the name of God.
* It uncovers the influences and reasons behind the birth a "terrorist."
* It provides history of these Middle East nations, leaderships, and the wars that lead to formation of terrorist nations.
* It presents the viewpoint of a "terrorist" on "terrorist attacks," and how blindly they are committed towards "protecting" their religious faith.
* It explains the role of Islam, and its involvement behind formation of the terrorist world.
I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Gives a real insight of what's going on in Middle East.
Review: This book is really great and astonishing, especially for western readers!
• It tells why these young men are ready to sacrifice their lives in the name of God.
• It uncovers the influences and reasons behind the birth a "terrorist."
• It provides history of these Middle East nations, leaderships, and the wars that lead to formation of terrorist nations.
• It presents the viewpoint of a "terrorist" on "terrorist attacks," and how blindly they are committed towards "protecting" their religious faith.
• It explains the role of Islam, and its involvement behind formation of the terrorist world.
I highly recommend it.
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