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While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within
(Paperback)
~ Bruce Bawer
Bruce Bawer (Author)
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Key Phrases: Western Europe, United States, European Muslims (more...)
4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (244 customer reviews)
244 Reviews
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Having recently published an indictment of Christian fundamentalist
intolerance in the U.S. (Stealing Jesus), New York native Bawer
relocated to Europe with his Norwegian partner in 1998 and found an even
more dangerous strain of religious and cultural bigotry ensnaring
Western Europe. A swarming menace called radical Islam, he writes, rings
Europe's cities in smoldering Muslim ghettos, provoking everything from
so-called honor killings and political assassinations to the Madrid
subway bombings and the massacre of school children in Beslan. Worse,
the Taliban-like theocracy Bawer sees looming inside backward immigrant
populations resistant to integration flourishes under the protective
wing of Western Europe's America-bashing, multicultural, liberal
establishment. The latter correspond to the appeasers of Nazi Germany,
in Bawer's view, since he believes that radical Islamism is every bit
the threat to Western civilization that Nazism was. He scoffs at talk of
"understanding" or "dialogue," indeed, at any but the most muscular
response hitching Europe ever tighter to the U.S. war on terror. His
clash-of-civilizations outlook means real issues often get washed away
by sweeping statements designed to tar Europe's Muslims with one
irredeemably hostile, welfare-sponging brush, while trading in well-worn
stereotypes about virtuous American "realists" and corrupt European
"idealists." (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Bookmarks Magazine
Bruce Bawer, who has wrestled previously about American fundamentalism
(Stealing Jesus) and gay rights (A Place at the Table), finds an equally
contentious and compelling subject in the blind eye of European
liberalism. Enchanted by the famed tolerance of Amsterdam, Bawer moved
to Europe in 1998. But after settling in a predominantly Muslim
neighborhood, the author noticed a society that offered "millions in
aid, but not a penny in salary." Reviewers find Bawer an eloquent writer
with his passion balanced between his American sensibilities and his
European residence. The sharpest criticism—that a lack of a bibliography
turns While Europe Slept into an exercise in pamphleteering—doesn't
undermine the ultimate effectiveness, or importance, of Bawer's thesis.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. --This text refers to the
Hardcover edition.
581 of 624 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptionally Illuminating, February 25, 2006
By Kat Bakhu (Albuquerque, NM United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This review is from: While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying
the West from Within (Hardcover)
I bought this book hoping to get a better understanding of what was
going on in Europe with their Muslim immigrant population (things like
the car-burning riots in Paris, areas of Netherlands ruled by Sharia and
not Dutch law, etc., left me quizzical). Well, I got that understanding.
And I got a lot more, not the least are vital insights as to just how
very different Europe is from the US. The author is both a clear writer,
and an excellent journalist who digs down into the entrails to bring
forth the real guts of a story. The information he brilliantly provided
often left me with my jaw hanging, wondering, "That's really what they
think over there?" I learned an awful lot in the short time it took to
read this book.
I honestly think that every American should read it. It is a clarion
call to not repeat the myopic, multicultural mistakes that have gotten
European countries into a fix that I honestly don't see how they can get
out of now. You will acquire a clear portrait of the attitudes of
Muslims in Europe, as well as those of elitist Europeans in all of their
moral smugness and self-assuming superiority. Many themes are presented,
but perhaps the over-arching theme is that tolerance for the intolerable
(wife beating, genital mutilation, honor killing, rape, etc.) is never
ever a good policy for a freedom loving, individual-respecting society.
While Europe Slept makes a highly readable contribution to the
discussion on the impact of Mideastern Islam with the democractic West.
It also has a lot to say about the role that the United States has
played in this drama. It turns out that we are not nearly as bad as
those who claim to hate us say we are. Reading this book had the
unsuspected effect of leaving me feeling even more blessed and happy
that I am one of those lucky ones to be an American. What else can I say
except that this is a really, really good book. It brought a lot of
light into an area that previously was something of a mystery. Highly
recommended.
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422 of 467 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Will Europe Do It Again?, February 28, 2006
By Alan D. Cranford (Carson City, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME) (VINE VOICE)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying
the West from Within (Hardcover)
I picked up this book because the title echoed John F. Kennedy's "Why
England Slept" of 1940. At the time, tired Europe was willing to try
anything to avoid another blood bath like the Great War--ANYTHING!
Appeasement had earned a bad reputation by 1940.
Today, Europe is habituated to appeasing aggressors. History has been
rewritten to conform to establishment prejudices--yup! The PC effect!
Europe's "free press" is not--Bruce Bawer documents this vigorously. The
Internet is melting down EU "press control," as other viewpoints are
becoming public knowledge. Before, if it wasn't "mainstream press," it
was unknown--even when most of Europe's residents differed from the
party line--they didn't have a voice. Europeans were appeasing the
Communist Block until the Berlin Wall fell--then the Western European
governments were at a loss.
The threat of radical Islam is real. Bawer also raises the spector of a
reactionary backlash--the very same thing that Mussolini rode to power
in the 1920's and Hitler used to achieve power in the 1930's. Europe has
forgotten the Red Tide and Franco and the rest. Don't forget--according
to the Islamic Imperialists, Europe is "occupied Islamic territory." Not
only must it be reconquered, but cleansed in fire and blood.
Has Islam been high-jacked by power-hungry totalitarians? Or is it a
religion of conquest? Like Europeans, Muslims are conformists who have a
single, tainted viewpoint force-fed to them. Step out of line, and you
get exiled from "the world." You might even have to move to America!
"While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destrouying the West From
Within" documents the part of the "War On Terror" that wasn't publicized
until the wave of bombings last year. I've been aware of the Islamic
"unrest" in Europe since the early 1960's even though I couldn't read
and write yet--I was in France in 1960 during the little civil war the
French government and the French military officer corps had over
Algeria. The Munich Olympics massacre (like the Texas Tower incident in
the United States) led to European governments fielding SWAT-like police
or military units--or both. During my active duty Army time in Europe,
the "Turkish guest worker problem" was common knowledge--but the Russian
bear got all of the attention. Bawer doesn't cover this--his book covers
the man-in-the-street point of view during his long residence in Europe.
I recommend this book because it appears that European history is
repeating itself--Europe is allowing the barbaric to seize and exercise
power. There is a parallel in the United States--the problem of illegal
immigration and its attendant effects on crime, the economy, and
political corruption. Illegal aliens in the United States vote? I can't
do a whole lot about the French or the European Union's insane policies,
but I do have a voice here in the United States. We can learn from
others' mistakes, or we can make those same mistakes again ourselves.
Read "While Europe Slept" and decide for yourself.
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Comment Comments (6)
117 of 126 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars European reader: Bawer is right, December 5, 2006
By Eduward du Bois (Europe) - See all my reviews
This review is from: While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying
the West from Within (Hardcover)
As a European I can tell you, Bawer has some strong and convincing
arguments about the European crisis. Let the European crisis be a
warning for what are the results of a political correct society that
promotes cultural relativism. Be warned and read this well written book,
it's a quick read.
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48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific reporting on European senescence in the face
of the Jihadist threat, October 2, 2006
By Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)
This review is from: While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying
the West from Within (Hardcover)
If you have read "Londonistan" by Melanie Phillips, you can see this as
a companion volume for the Continent. If you haven't read that book,
then you should read this book AND that book. Really. And then add in
"American Jihad" or any other book by the indispensable Steve Emerson.
But you certainly should read this book. It is written well and is
clearly reported.
Bruce Bawer is a very talented writer who has written books and articles
for gay rights, same-sex marriage, and against conservative
evangelicals. Even in this book (pg. 33) he calls Jerry Falwell "an
unsavory creep", says that James Dobson's parenting advice is
"appalling". However, he notes that Falwell wasn't issuing fatwas, that
Dobson wasn't telling people to murder their daughters, and that while
Pat Robertson wanted to deny him marriage [to his same sex partner], the
imams wanted to drop a wall on him. Honest and clear insights that one
can parse and agree with in the large sweep, while disagreeing with its
parts (or agree, if you are so inclined).
He notes "I traveled to the Netherlands in 1997 and thought I'd found
the closest thing to heaven on earth. What sentient being, I wondered
wouldn't want to liver there?" Yet things had changed so much that a
survey from April 2005 showed that every third Dutchman wanted to leave
the country. This book report the excruciating events and changes that
are occurring in most of Europe that has led to this deterioration.
Bawer does not pull any punches in stating his view that is the rise of
the Muslim influence with a certain intransigent, bullying, and
non-Western traditions that is destroying Europe.
The author is more alarmist about Europe than Pat Buchanan is about
America and notes why. He assures us that what is happening now in
Europe is coming to America and judges that it is only a matter of time
until Sharia law is given place in the legal system of Europe and the
sad day that will be.
There are so many shocking events that he documents in this book that I
cannot share even all the most disturbing ones. However, he notes on
page 66 that a report stated that 65 percent of rapes in Norway were
committed by "non-Western immigrants (a term that in Norway is
essentially synonymous with "Muslims")". He notes that when Unni Wikan,
a professor of social anthropology, was asked for comment she said that
"Norwegian women must take their share of responsibility for these
rapes". And if that weren't appalling enough, she added, " Norwegian
women must realize that we live in a multicultural society and adapt to
it." Can you imagine if that were said in America?
He also documents the kind of social rot that is part and parcel of the
European senescence. They so love their social democracies that they are
willing to compromise their heritage, principles, and even a strong
sense of reality in order to prop them up with this poisonous brand of
immigration. Again, it is too much to document here.
I also found his documentation of the "Peace Studies" movement in Europe
and its anti-American roots, stem, and flower to be very illuminating.
Now, I can understand where the anti-Americanism of the far left
doctrines in our own country come from. They are simply transplanted
notions from socialist Europe that they want to grow here. It is sad in
so many ways, but particularly in the way they hallucinate their way
into seeing the old USSR as the good guy and providing a needed balance
to American imperialism and terrorism. These folks are so far gone that
left wing crank Noam Chomsky would be a moderate conservative in one of
their panel discussion.
Bower concludes this much needed book so beautifully. In speaking of the
Dutch (whom he admires more than I do) he says, "They seem to have
brought Western civilization to its utmost pinnacle in terms of freedom
and the pursuit of happiness, and the road ahead, very much like the
actual roads in the Netherlands, seemed to stretch to the horizon,
straight, flat, smooth, and with nary a bump."
"And yet they'd turned a blind eye to the very peril that would destroy
them."
Let's hope the Europeans wake up, but certainly let's make sure that we
Americans are awake and honest with ourselves about the threats the
Jihadists represent to us at all levels.
Strongly recommended.
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars an excellent look at a very disturbing issue,
September 25, 2006
By Living in Budapest "livinginhungary" (Budapest, Hungary (originally
Ann Arbor, MI)) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying
the West from Within (Hardcover)
As an American living in Europe for almost 8 years, I can see most of
the troubles that Bawer describes in While Europe slept. Bawer's
description and explanation of European attitudes about Islam seem
pretty accurate.
I am fortunate that I live in one of the new EU countries that so far
has not developed the lax immigration policies of its ultra-politically
correct western European fellow members. I have visited some of the
cities that Bawer describes and can attest to the fact that there are
noticeable differences from 10 years ago.
As an additional note, I've never been to Norway and for that matter
don't know any Norwegians. I wasn't aware that the anti-American
sentiment was so ingrained in Norway's culture. I can only hope that
Bawer is exaggerating to some extent.
I would give While Europe Slept 5 stars for the general coverage of its
topic. I would give the book only 3 stars for the presentation. I feel
that Bawer makes too many generalizations about Europe which is an
extremely culturally diverse continent. It's not fair to take Europe as
whole for this topic.
Finally, reading While Europe Slept, I felt that Bawer was often to
personal and perhaps too biased. Reader will see that Bawer certainly
discovered that 'the grass isn't always greener on the other
side...especially in Norway! In any case, regardless of how you feel
about Bawer's writing style, you'll probably agree that Bawer makes many
strong points and you'll come away very worried for Europe.
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Comment Comment
Sounds like an important book to read for what is happening with out
allies and to ensure that it does not happen here. First get rid of our
current POTUS and Congress.
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