Summary and Reviews of Allah's Torch by Tracy Dahlby

Allah's Torch by Tracy Dahlby

Allah's Torch

A Report from Behind the Scenes in Asia's War on Terror

by Tracy Dahlby
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  • First Published:
  • Jan 1, 2005, 320 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Dec 2005, 327 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

Charts a fascinating course through the sprawling land of Indonesia, where the home-bred Jemaah Islamiyah, Asia's answer to Al Qaeda, pursues its deadly ambition to create a Southeast Asia Islamic super-state.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia -- the next front in the war on terrorism maybe the most difficult ... and explosive.

Long before September 11, 2001, terrorism's global elite was already zeroing in on Indonesia -- the world's most populous Islamic nation, and its largest archipelago, where dense jungles and intricate, unpatrolled coastlines conceal almost endless hiding places. Acclaimed journalist and filmmaker Tracy Dahlby takes us into this dangerous terrain, both before and after 9/11, interweaving the divergent perspectives of Koran-thumping preachers, hardened holy warriors, military commandos, and embattled Muslim moderates, in a first-rate reporting adventure that sheds new light on the epidemic chaos now threatening our international community.

By turns harrowing, thought-provoking, and humorous, Allah's Torch charts a fascinating course through a sprawling land unknown to most Americans where the home-bred Jemaah Islamiyah, Asia's answer to Al Qaeda, pursues its deadly ambition of pressing all of Southeast Asia under the yoke of a pure Islamic super-state.

With the trained observer's eye for detail and veteran newsman's sense of the story hidden behind the headlines, Dahlby gives readers a highly personal tour of the militant Jakarta slums, terrorist-traumatized Bali, and the Islamic heartland on the island of Java, where the outcome of a struggle now raging between moderate Muslims and their extremist brethren for the country's Islamic soul promises to have far-reaching effects on the lives of ordinary Americans. In so doing, Dahlby maps out the chilling realities of what radical Islam has planned for us as our worlds inevitably collide -- and offers some surprising conclusions about how America's leaders -- and its citizens -- can best defend our country against Asia's new Osama bin Ladens.

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Reviews

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Dahlby's tendency to spend as much time highlighting the lighter hearted side of Indonesia as he does the more sinister people and events is seen as a weakness by some reviewers. However, for the great majority of us who have little knowledge of the current political and religious situation in Indonesia (and, if we're honest, would probably have been hard pressed to find it on a map until the Tsunami hit in December 2004), the combination of travelogue and political journalism is both relevant and interesting...continued

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(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).

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Beyond the Book



Indonesia

Tracy Dahlby is a former managing editor of Newsweek International and an expert in the affairs of Asia, where he lived for thirteen years, serving as Tokyo bureau chief for the Washington Post and Newsweek. He is also a regular contributor to National Geographic magazine.  

According to Dahlby: In 2000, 75% of Indonesians surveyed in a major poll expressed positive feelings toward the US. Three years later, the figure stood at 15%.  The causes for this extraordinary swing are believed to be: perceived ...

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