Ahmir Khan

Where does religious fundamentalism come from?

Revisado: 03-17-25

This is a remarkable and eye-opening book that has helped me understand the concept of religion, the source of fundamentalism and how it applies to everything we are seeing in our (the US) and other countries' (Israel and Muslim countries) current political climates.

The concept of religion helping to tie mythos (the story) with logos (practical wisdom), the need for balance between the two, the supreme importance of ritual to help confirm this has really helped me understand the most basic concept of religion. The author has unlocked why religion is so important, why it is so human, and why it is necessary to being a human. It is necessary to understand a world that does not always make sense, and lays down laws to govern a world that does not make sense. You can tell the author has a great deal of respect for religion and this is by no means a book on why religion is bad. It is specifically a book on you can start with an ideology that has so many positives (societal and individually), but somehow warp it to construct something that is extreme and damaging. The idea of fundamentalism occurs as a reaction to an external factor - modernity, colonialism, science or isolation, when religion feels boxed in and has no release. It is these external factors that squeeze religion, forcing thinkers to pick and choose aspects of religion, and thus create fundamentalists. The history of fundamentalism is SO important to understand this - you cannot understand Jewish fundamentalism without understanding Jewish isolation in Eastern Europe, Islamic fundamentalism without understanding Western colonialism and pressure, and Christian Fundamentalism without understanding the American Protestant reaction to the Enlightenment, rationalism and science.

The chapters on American Protestant fundamentalism are particularly incisive, as it so clearly explains everything that is occurring in the US right now. The author even remarks how the US might eventually decide on a fascist ideology at some point, and this book was written 25 years ago (in 2000)!! Everything that is being done by the current administration are foretold in this book, as this has been the goal of the Protestant Fundamentalists since they began to organize their beliefs and ideology in the early 70s (see the Christian Reconstructionists).

This book was written in 2000, and given how much has changed in the last 25 years, I would have loved to known how her conclusions would be different. In the late 90s, it seemed like the fundamentalists in all 3 religions were losing influence. Safe to say, the opposite is now true.

It is a long, but important book. I would encourage anyone to read this if they truly want to understand this world we live in.

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WW2 started way earlier than you were taught!

Revisado: 06-30-23

This is the book that I have always wanted to read about the Asian/Pacific war. There is no hero worship, no glossing over major campaigns and no one gets a free pass. This is a reminder that World War 2 actually started in 1931, and not 1941, about a brutal, repressive and racist regime that was built around the cult of the emperor, in which anyone (except perhaps the emperor himself) can define and act upon what is best for Japan. This is what happens when men with no respect for the rule of their own law, let along anyone else's law, are in charge. The war in this region is a close second to the Eastern Front, and this book only focuses on events before 1942! The complete lack of accountability on the Japanese side, where commanders would routinely start campaigns without central government authority speaks to just how out of control the Japanese imperial army had become. The complete lack of preparedness of the western colonial power is shocking, and really helps understand why Britain's colonial superiority was shattered after the war. The importance of China in ultimately winning the war is emphasized, that without Chiang Kai-Shek keeping the Japanese occupied in China for 8 years, the war is not won as easily. But not without the foreboding of what is to happen: without Chiang being worn down by the Japanese after years of fighting the Japanese, Mao Zedong never takes over. This is a very thorough book, going through descriptions of all of the campaigns, but paints a complete picture of the Japanese Empire up to its zenith.

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Nero - Sociopath or Spoiled Brat? How about both?

Revisado: 06-30-23

Fascinating look into one of Rome's most infamous emperors. A well researched book that uses the contemporary sources, but also attempts to see through those sources own biases to paint an accurate picture of the Princeps. Nero strikes you not necessarily as the wrong guy for the job, but someone who just didn't have an interest in the job, and only did it because it afforded him the opportunity to do everything that he actually wanted to do, like sing and play music! He's not dissimilar to many other children of great men or families, who are handed the keys to a family business, only to squander it. But there is also a ruthlessness in society at the time, which helps you understand just how cutthroat you had to be just to survive. This helps us understand his character and his actions, and outside of that context it would be difficult to understand his actions. In general, I also did like how the author ties in the general history of what was occurring in and around Rome, with segments on Britain, Seneca and Parthia, for example, that really give a complete picture of the empire and it's relation to Nero

I know some people did not like the narrator, but I thought he was brilliant. He uses different voices for different people, including this lazy, bored, disinterested voice for Nero. I really enjoyed it, and found my self laughing out loud several times when he would use the different voices.

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Fascinating if kind of depressing....

Revisado: 11-02-22

This is the kind of book you need to read (or listen to) just to really, really appreciate the difficulties of Africans and Africa. I had to stop and take a few weeks off during the West Africa slavery sections, because it's just so difficult to go through it in one run. The author starts at the beginning of modern humans in Africa and presents the development of civilizations over the course of time. He will swing from Egypt to North Africa to West Africa and so forth, trying to piece together what humanity was doing in different parts of a large continent with geographic boundaries and infectious diseases that limited the ability to move and mix until much later in time. I would have liked more ancient history of Africa, as it was difficulty to assess how it compared to say the MIddle East, China or even the Americas. But once he starts moving and updating the reader of what is occurring in different regions of Africa, you can't help but see a major trend: Exploitation. This includes both goods and human capital. The degree to which slavery played a portion in the societies of Africans, and the way that fed the need for slaves from the societies in the West (Americas), North (Africa) and East (Arabia) is perhaps an aspect of the slave trade that is underappreciated. In the end, even to Africans, human capital was just another form of capital. Once slavery was formally outlawed, then it became the exploitation of natural resources. And once colonialism was ended and external exploitation was removed, then the exploitation came from within, from corrupt leaders and warlords, through wars of extermination in the context of weak states with no sense of togetherness and with no training in how to run a state. Unlike most other portions of the world, where there is a natural history of state formation, West and Southern Africa in particular were never allowed to develop their own institutions, and therefore are "making it up as they go along" leading to tenuous societies and governments. It is difficult to be successful when everything is working against you, and this book reminds you that the history of Africa is what has set this up .

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Must-listen story of the Nazi takeover of Germany

Revisado: 10-19-21

This book is the first part of the "Third Reich Trilogy", and I have now listened to the first 2 parts. This book will give you a thorough understanding of some of the social and political uniqueness of Germany in regards to what set it up for being such a ripe target for the Nazi takeover. It sets up an portrait of Germany just as it is about to "lose" The Great War, and then really gets in the aftermath of the war, in particular the turbulent political establishment of the Weimar Republic, which was one of the most democratic governments of its time, but was considered illegitimate by nearly all of the political parties involved in its function. The formation and organization of the Nazi party is covered in great detail: nationalism defined by the "stab in the back" theory, their philosophy of antisemitism, lebensralm and eugenics , their fierce anti-Marxism, the role of "leaders" that play a role in the party, and particularly their commitment to the use of violence that no other party could meet (except perhaps the communists). The enabling of the Nazi parties by the conservative parties, initially in a hope to usurp their influence, only to be usurped by the Nazi's themselves are the ultimate cautionary tale for political parties that attempt to court extremists and in effort to gain their support. I would have liked to see more on the role of The Great War and the establishment of the Weimar Republic itself, since I think the German political and social system did not have the political institutions to handle such as a rapid political change from a mostly absolute monarchy to a republic. The revolution to the left really sets up the counter revolution back to the right, but in such a politically extreme and morally bankrupt way (even by contemporary standards, as mentioned in the book) that will define the 20th century, whether that response is from the left or the right. I would recommend "November 1918: The German Revolution" by Michael Gerwath is an in-depth story of Weimar republic, a remarkable yet ill-fated government.

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A fascinating tale of a complex man

Revisado: 11-15-20

It is a really well researched title, using primary sources, that goes into the story of the man who is responsible for creating the Roman Empire. The Princeps is an incredibly complex man, who could be both astonishingly cruel but also magnanimous. Although his uncle and father, Julius, is more commonly associated with the Roman Empire, it is he who created the institutions that would eventually become the Roman Empire. The story provides multiple chapters of background, which really are necessary to establish where the Roman Republic was when Octavian comes on stage, and gives you a real understanding of the slow and gradual transition to the Empire. I think you get a good idea of his character, a controlling dictator who tried to micromanage everything, yet for the most part, seemed to have the interest of the res publica. The narrator is excellent as always, you never go wrong with Derek Perkins. For anyone interested in the Roman Republic / Empire, this is a must read.

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A great story of the history of Venice

Revisado: 10-28-17

I really enjoyed the "story" that this book tells. It's most definately a history, but the way it meanders from event to event, you have this arc of this underdog super power, rising out of the swamp where Italy meets the Adriatic as the Roman Empire around it collapses, carving out a niche trading between East and West, the strength of it's republic heralding it through various challenges, inventing modern banking, being part of the bulwark holding off various eastern empires, and then slowly and sadly dwindling away to the Disneyland that it has become. The story goes out of its way to dispel some of the myths and stereotypes associated with Venice, and does it fairly, and reminds you just how far ahead of its time Venice was.

Finally, the narrator is fabulous, listening to him adds to the overall experience. I can't say enough about the narration. And his pronunciation of the Italian words is sweet music to your ears!!

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Osterreich? Osterwrong!

Revisado: 06-19-16

Ok, so that was a cheesy headline, but that's all I could think of!

This is a really fascinating book delving into the final death knell of the Austrian Empire, with an emphasis on its disastrous performance in the first 1-2 years of The Great War. The author is the narrator, so you can clearly hear his own incredulity and disgust with just how unprepared this formerly great empire was for the war, the complete disregard for its citizens in pursing this war, and the separation from reality its military and political leaders had from the disaster that was unfolding on the ground. This is a kind of "Guns of August" of the Austrian front, detailing just how wrong everything was going for the Austrians in the first part of the war, and how this was a result of bad policy and eventually foretold the destruction of this empire. It's mind boggling, with the benefit of hindsight, at just how pathetic the Austrians were: under-powered and numerically less artillery, officers not speaking the same language as their men, Napoleonic war techniques of charging headlong into machine guns and artillery, terrible troop morale and a high command that could not make up their mind about what to do, except to "stress the offensive". Given the numbers of men involved, it's horrible, sad stuff.

My only (minor) quibbles is that sometimes the author will repeat himself, in particular when assailing the Austrian Chief of Staff, Conrad, but Conrad really is just ridiculous and horrible, so I can accept that. I would have loved to hear a bit more about the decay of the Empire prior to the war. It seems that when they lose the German confederation in the Austrian Prussian War, that is when they go from a German-centric Empire with other non-German holdings to being a minority in their own empire. This to me is really the beginning of the end.

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Fantastic story and narration!

Revisado: 06-19-16

I think as you read (or listen) to this book, you realize just how often the country of Afghanistan is reacting to its neighbors, and how much its neighbors have influenced its growth (or destruction). But what is different, is the book is written from an Afghan perspective. You see just how much external factors have affected the country. First the British (through British India) with their repeated and destructive invasions, then the Communists and eventually the Russians, and most recently the Pakistani's with their proxy The Taliban. There was the glimmer of home from the 1930s through the 1960s, where you get the feeling that things were beginning to go in the right direction, slowly, grudgingly, despite the repeated coups, that with a firm hand, perhaps this country could move forward, and then BAM, the Communists take over, Dawud Khan and his family are killed, and then everything slides almost irreversibly downhill. You know the rest after that. The description of the formation of the Taliban, religious fundamentalists aided by foreign governments taking advantage of a people whose families, culture and society has been destroyed, and creating this even more destructive force almost makes one lose hope.

I have to say, the narration is brilliant, as it is the author himself. I think he could read the phone book in Kabul, and I would listen to the whole thing. Assuming there are phone books in Kabul...

Only a couple of things I wanted more information on: how is it that the Afghan culture was so much more conservative from an religious perspective than its neighbors in Iran or India. I would also have loved to see more insight on the internal differences and squabbles within Afghanistan (Sunni vs. Shi'a, Pashto vs. Everyone else) and to what extent that has affected the situations above.

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