Abstract: "Dispels the idea of 'good' (secular, westernized) and 'bad' (premodern, fanatical) Muslims, pointing out that these judgments refer to political rather than cultural or religious identities ... Argues that political Islam emerged as the result of a modern encounter with Western power, and that the terrorist movement at the center of Islamist politics is an even more recent phenomenon, one that followed America's embrace of proxy war after its defeat in Vietnam"—jacket.

Includes bibliographical references.

Contents: Modernity and violence -- Culture talk, or How not to talk about Islam and politics -- The Cold War after Indochina -- Afghanistan : the high point in the Cold War -- From proxy wars to open aggression -- Beyond impunity and collective punishment.

English