The Two Faces of Islam - by Stephen Schwartz (Paperback)

About the Book

Essential reading for anyone interested in the background of the war on terror and the future of the Middle East policy, this eye-opening expos reveals America's profound ignorance about its closest ally in the region--Saudi Arabia.

Book Synopsis

Since its formation in 1932, Saudi Arabia has been ruled by two interdependent families. The Al Sa'uds control politics and the descendants of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab impose Wahhabism--a violent, fanatical perversion of the pluralistic Islam practiced by most Muslims. Stephen Schwartz argues that Wahhabism, vigorously exported with the help of Saudi oil money, is what incites Palestinian suicide bombers, Osama bin Laden, and other Islamic terrorists throughout the world.

Schwartz reveals the hypocrisy of the Saudi regime, whose moderate facade conceals state-sponsored repression and terrorism. He also raises troubling questions about Wahhabi infiltration of America's Islamic community and about U.S. oil companies sanitizing Saudi Arabia's image for the West. This sharp analysis and eye-opening expose illuminates the background to the September 11th terrorist attacks and offers new approaches for U.S. policy toward its closest ally in the Middle East.

Review Quotes

"Schwartz provides much valuable information and insight. [His] case against Saudi Arabia and its foreign policy is irrefutable." -The Wall Street Journal

"A major and welcome contribution on a topic that will only become more relevant. It is must reading for anybody who wants to know what exactly we are facing in the war on terror." --National Review

"A powerful indictment of Saudi-Wahhabi duplicity. . . . A valuable study of a religious culture that could well end up in open conflict with the West (if it's not already)." --The Washington Post

"The urgency for Americans is to place the news in context, and toward that end there is no better guide than Stephen Schwartz. . . . No writer has done more to expose Wahhabism than Mr. Schwartz has." --Dallas Morning News

About the Author

Stephen Schwartz is an author and journalist who has been Washington bureau chief for the Jewish Forward and an editorial writer for the Voice of America. Prior to that he was an interfaith activist in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. His previous books include studies of the Spanish Civil War, the radical culture of California, and the Kosovo War. He lives in Washington, D.C.