Daveed Gartenstein-Ross’ New Book: My Year Inside Radical Islam
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Media, The War On TerrorismWho’s Daveed Gartenstein-Ross (DGR)…apart from a man with the one of the longest hyphenated last names in history? Well, he’s also a frequent Weekly Standard contributor who has written a new book, and it sounds fascinating.
Gartenstein-Ross reveals how widening doctrinal tensions are dividing twenty-first-century expressions of Islam in this memoir of his journey into and out of the faith. Raised by freethinking Jewish parents in a world of former hippies, Gartenstein-Ross finds himself pondering ultimate questions after two brushes with death. Friendship with a progressive Shiite Muslim offers answers. Gartenstein-Ross therefore converts. But both he and his Shiite friend subsequently encounter–and then cross over–the chasm separating moderates from radical orthodoxy. Gartenstein-Ross even works for a Muslim charity diverting funds to terrorists. After eventually turning away from the group hatreds and anti-intellectualism of radical Islam, Gartenstein-Ross embraces Christianity–and becomes an FBI informant. To his great joy, he subsequently discovers that his Shiite friend has likewise turned away from radicalism and has returned to moderate Islam. For readers trying to understand Muslims on both sides of the radical-moderate divide, Gartenstein-Ross’ story will be an eye-opener.
One hopes, though, that DGR picks better places to hawk his book than Hannity’s radio show, which he did yesterday.
Ugh.
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 1st, 2007 and is filed under Media, The War On Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 1st, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I sincerely hope you read somewhere that he was on Hannity’s radio show and don’t listen to that drivel yourself.
February 1st, 2007 at 5:17 pm
It’s just like listening to Franken except he’s badmouthing the other side…
You can listen to any of these shows like Limbaugh, Hannity etc. if you know they’re for entertainment purposes. Editorializing is NOT news.
February 2nd, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Well, Hannity invited him on. I wonder if the more liberal media did also, since a realistic look into the radical Islamic movement would help us find ways to defuse it. Or is it that DGR may have become the exact same radical for the right wing camp & refused to talk on liberal media? At this point, we don’t know. Given the fact he went from one anti-democratic movement to another makes me wonder.
And I hope you do listen to Faux News occasionally, Justin. We can’t counter the enemy unless we listen to discover what he represents, & act accordingly. Frankly, I absolutely hate to hear what they have to say, but I gain insight into where they are coming from when I do. How else can I confront O’Reilly’s censorship of liberal guests who start to make sense unless I hear him shouting at them to “SHUT UP” repeatedly? In this way, I have proof he believes in censorship, & not just rumors.