Two Hours that Shook the World » (1st Edition)

Fred Halliday is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and author of numerous books. A leading authority on superpower relations, development issues, the Middle East and IR theory, he is a prolific lecturer and broadcaster.

Fred Halliday examines the causes and rise of Islamic fundamentalism and how terror became an instrument of political and military conflict. Sobering and encouraging, Two Hours That Shook the World provides a reasoned approach to what the future may hold.

Library Journal

Middle East scholar Halliday (London Sch. of Economics; Islam and the Myth of Confrontation) would disagree with the popular press's depiction of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as a monolith called Islam confronting another monolith called the West. Only the first and last essays in this nuanced collection were written after the attack. For the rest of the book, Halliday has cobbled together previous writings on the "West Asian crisis" (covering the crescent from Palestine to Pakistan), the many natures of terrorism, and the West's long history of "anti-Muslimism." These essays are richly illustrated with both historical and contemporary analogies that will appeal to an erudite reader. At first glance, some essays may appear unrelated to the September 11 attack, but in fact they help give the terrible events a kind of context. Informed readers will find this collection helpful. Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.