Talking to the Enemy
Violent Extremism, Sacred Values, and What it Means to Be Human
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- CHF 12.00
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- CHF 12.00
Beschreibung des Verlags
Talking to the Enemy is an intellectually and personally courageous exploration of one of the most contentious issues of modern times.
Scott Atran has spent years talking to terrorists - from Gaza and Afghanistan, to Indonesia and Europe - in order to help us understand and mitigate the rise of religious violence. Here he argues persuasively that we need to consider terrorists' close relationships, with family and friends, as much as the causes they espouse, and delivers a fascinating journey into the mindsets of radicalised people in the twenty-first century. Along the way, he also provides deep insights into the history of all religions, and into their evolutionary origins. He shows us, above all, how we have come to be human.
More than any other book, Talking to the Enemy invites us to empathise; it is itself the best possible example of how to do it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Atran (In Gods We Trust) examines the motivations of terrorists in this sprawling and timely study. Drawing upon years of travel among Muslim communities from Indonesia to Morocco, extensive interviews with would-be martyrs and holy warriors, and detailed surveys, the author concludes that young jihadists aren t merely motivated by political or religious fervor they are powerfully bound to each other, they were campmates, school buddies, soccer pals, and the like, who become die-hard bands of brothers. Besides the importance of group dynamics in spawning terrorists, the author highlights the role of sacred values core cultural values that often trump other values, particularly economic ones. Within this context, Atran argues that the best measures against today s terrorist threat which is more opportunistic, more scattered and disjointed, than it was before 9/11 are soft-power initiatives to provide alternative heroes and hopes within Muslim communities and to reframe sacred values. Atran s intellectual reach is prodigious; his analysis of the underpinnings of terrorism is instructive, if often unconventional; and his provocative prescriptions merit debate and consideration.
