In July 1815; six Iranian students arrived in London under the escort of their chaperone; Captain Joseph D'Arcy. Their mission was to master the modern sciences behind the rapid rise of Europe. Over the next four years; they lived both the low life and high life of Regency London; from being down and out after their abandonment by D’Arcy to charming their way into society and landing on the gossip pages. The Love of Strangers tells the story of their search for love and learning in Jane Austen’s England.Drawing on the Persian diary of the student Mirza Salih and the letters of his companions; Nile Green vividly describes how these adaptable Muslim migrants learned to enjoy the opera and take the waters at Bath. But there was more than frivolity to their student years in London. Burdened with acquiring the technology to defend Iran against Russia; they talked their way into the observatories; hospitals; and steam-powered factories that placed England at the forefront of the scientific revolution. All the while; Salih dreamed of becoming the first Muslim to study at Oxford.The Love of Strangers chronicles the frustration and fellowship of six young men abroad to open a unique window onto the transformative encounter between an Evangelical England and an Islamic Iran at the dawn of the modern age. This is that rarest of books about the Middle East and the West: a story of friendships.
#1439057 in Books 2014-11-23Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.75 x 6.50 x 1.00l; .0 #File Name: 0691163146232 pages
Review
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful. Owen defines political Islam as the view that the Islamic community would be better off and stronger if only it were pious—if MuBy John MartinConfronting Political Islam by Professor John M. Owen IV is an effort to place political Islam within the context of other historical confrontations to see what lessons might be learned. Owen defines political Islam as the view that the Islamic community would be better off and stronger if only it were pious—if Muslims lived under state enforced Islamic or Sharia law in accordance with the Koran. The alternative is generally regarded as secular Islam. Owen cites three historical examples for comparison: Catholics v. Protestants from about 1520 to 1690 in Europe; monarchy v. republican democracy between Europe and the United States from 1770 to 1870; and the struggle among Communism; Fascism and liberalism globally from 1910 to 1990. Owen claims that the current situation with Islam is not sui generis (unique) and thus there are parallels with these three historical situations.Owen then draws six lessons from these comparisons:1. Don’t sell Islam short—it is not going to go away soon2. Ideologies are not usually monolithic—there are various ideological perspectives in Islamism.3. Foreign interventions are normal—thus American and Western efforts to intervene in the Middle East are not unusual.4. A state can be rational and ideological at the same time—which may be true about Iran; for example.5. The winners may be none of the above—unlike the Cold War; which ended with a clear winner the ultimate result may well be mixed.6. Watch Turkey and Iran; which are exemplars of secular and Islamic states.Owen concludes that we do not know what the root cause of Islamism is and suggests that the sole cause is not poverty; Western intervention or any other single cause. He suggests that the United States should continue to “be who we are†which he says is a virtuous; positive; constitutional democracy. We should use our “soft power†to gain whatever influence we can.I see this book as an effort by an establishment historian to explain a situation that he has little personal knowledge of. I am not an historian; but I have lived and worked in Islamic countries; Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan (as well as countries with substantial Muslim populations—India and Ethiopia); and have some understanding of the culture and religious values of these places. The past may well provide some insights into the present but it is nothing more than an academic exercise to make the kind of comparisons Owen suggests. Still; the book is worth reading as it does provide some insights and perspectives into what is a very complex and difficult situation1 of 30 people found the following review helpful. Anti Islam and Muslims RhetoricBy M.This book is just anti Islam rhetoric.
