PASSION FOR ISLAM: Shaping the Modern Middle East: The Egyptian Experience

Murphy, a Pulitzer-winning journalist and former Cairo bureau chief for the Washington Post, puts Egypt at the center of the growth of Islamic extremism, because it "provides the ballast in Arab politics and diplomacy." Offering a vivid portrait of Egypt today, she attributes the spread of violent Islam to the interaction of three factors: a general reawakening of Islam, the reign of authoritarian governments in the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Oct.)