Iraq and beyond

Olivier Roy's The Politics of Chaos in the Middle East (Columbia Univ. Press, 2008) begins with the usual Bush put-downs but becomes interesting as Roy notes the splits among Muslims: Many are less interested in the clash of civilization than in local power plays that reflect generations of jockeying within relatively small communities.

Michael Yon's Moment of Truth in Iraq (Vigilante, 2008) gives an up-close look at American troops courageously defeating terrorists in a war most media leaders said was unwinnable. Why don't we read more about this in mainstream media? James Bowman's Media Madness (Encounter, 2008) is a readable overview of recent follies, including the way many journalists are ready to blame America first and to ignore the way many Muslims are angrier at each other than they are at the United States.

The title of Vinoth Ramachandra's Subverting Global Myths (InterVarsity, 2008) is promising, but the author propagates some myths of his own as he echoes leftist critiques of the war on terror. Much better is Patrick Nachtigall's Faith in the Future: Christianity's Interface with Globalization (Warner, 2008), which optimistically but realistically looks at how Christian endeavors can benefit from increased mobility, new approaches to urbanization and poverty-fighting, and other technological and cultural changes.