Religious Extremism

Evangelical Christians are perhaps the most polarizing—and least understood—people living in America today. In his seminal new book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, journalist Tim Alberta, himself a practicing Christian and the son of an evangelical pastor, paints an expansive and profoundly troubling portrait of the American evangelical movement.

In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, J. M. Berger offers a nuanced introduction to extremist movements, explaining what extremism is, how extremist ideologies are constructed, and why extremism can escalate into violence.

Maajid Nawaz spent his teenage years listening to American hip-hop and learning about the radical Islamist movement spreading throughout Europe and Asia in the 1980s and '90s. At 16, he was already a ranking member in Hizb ut-Tahrir, a London-based Islamist group. He quickly rose through the ranks to become a top recruiter, a charismatic spokesman for the cause of uniting Islam's political power across the world.

Born and raised in Essex, Maajid Nawaz was recruited into politicised Islam as a teenager. Abandoning his love of hip-hop music, graffiti and girls, he was recruited into Hizb ut-Tahrir (the Liberation Party), where he played a leading and international role in the shaping and dissemination of an aggressive anti-West narrative. While studying for his Arabic and law degree, he travelled around the UK and to Denmark and Pakistan, setting up new cells.

A finalist for the National Book Award, The Convert by Pulitzer Prize finalist Deborah Baker is the eye-opening account of Margaret Marcus’ dramatic conversion from an American secular Jew to a proponent of radical Islam. In 1962, Margaret left New York for Lahore, Pakistan, changed her name, and quickly became one of Islam’s loudest critics of the West.

Set in rural Oklahoma, Into Captivity They Will Go tells the story of Caleb Gunter, a boy whose mother has convinced him he is the second coming of Jesus Christ and that together they are destined to lead the chosen into the Kingdom of Heaven. Believing the Seven Seals detailed in Revelation have been opened, he and his mother flee their home to join a tongue-speaking evangelical church and to prepare for the end of the world. But after tragedy ensues, Caleb must rebuild his life without the only support he has ever known - his mother and the church.

God at War explores the dark attraction between religion and warfare. Virtually every religious tradition leaves behind it a bloody trail of stories, legends, and images of war, and most wars call upon the divine for blessings in battle. This book finds the connection between religion and warfare in the alternative realities created in the human imagination in response to crises both personal and social.

Abraham Khan is a Muslim who dreams of changing the world. He's liberal, pro-Western, and determined to speak out against the extremists who have hijacked his religion. That makes him a target, and the consequences hit him fast and hard - an armed fanatic smashes into his home one evening, trying to kill him. He survives the harrowing attempt, just barely. Maya Raines is the special operative brought in to protect Abraham. She is tough and committed. The very best at what she does. But Abraham is no ordinary principal - he will not hide, and he will not stay silent.