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It was the emblematic crime of our moment: On a cold November day in Amsterdam, an angry young Muslim man, Mohammed Bouyeri, the son of Moroccan immigrants, shot and killed the celebrated and controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, great-grandnephew of Vincent and iconic European provocateur, for making a movie with the vocally anti-Islam Somali-born Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali that "blasphemed" Islam. After Bouyeri shot van Gogh, he calmly stood over the body and cut his throat with a curved machete, as if performing a ritual sacrifice, which in a very real sense he was. The murder horrified quiet, complacent, prosperous Holland, a country that prides itself on being a bastion of tolerance, and sent shock waves across Europe and around the world. Shortly thereafter, Ian Buruma returned to his native country to try to make sense of it all and to see what larger meaning should and shouldn't be drawn from this story. The result is Buruma's masterpiece: a book with the intimacy and narrative control of a true-crime page-turner and the intellectual resonance we've come to expect from one of the most well-regarded journalists and thinkers of our time. Ian Buruma's entire life has led him to this narrative: In his hands, it is the exemplary tale of our age, the story of what happens when political Islam collides with the secular West and tolerance finds its limits.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Understanding leads to a path : Multi-culturalism in the 21st Centuary,
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This review is from: Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance (Hardcover)
I think this is a book for anyone who wants to make a serious attempt at understanding the complexities of 21st Century multi-cultural life. Buruma is as non-judgemental as it is possible to be, instead he meets and interviews a number of people from all perspectives of the issue and sets out their feelings. He also sketches in the backgrounds of the key players in the specific incidents that occurred in Amsterdam and led to the murder of Theo Van Gogh.
He allows you at least see some of what lay behind some behaviour. To say what I found, would in some way defeat the object of this book, which is to allow its readers to come to their own stance or at least their own path of understanding. But if there are resolutions to be found, and there are, to the choppy seas of modern multi-cultural co-existence, then books like these are a very good starting point. I know I shall re-read this book with more rigour in the months ahead.
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must read for anyone interested in radical Islam in Europe,
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This review is from: Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance (Paperback)
Before you buy this book, you need to ask yourself just one question: am I interested in how radical Islam effects Europe in general and the Netherlands in particular? If yes, then this will be one of the most interesting books you ever read on the subject. There are very detailed and extremely revealing insights into the characters of the three main figures who have opposed radical Islam in the Netherlands, the people in question being Pim Fortuyn, Theo Van Gogh and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Indeed, in each case a single event seems to have sparked their political transformation and confrontational stance towards radical Islam. In the case of Fortuyn, it was when a gay bar he was a patron of was attacked by radicalised Moroccan youths. In the case of Van Gogh, it was when he discovered that his uncle had been a resistance fighter executed by the Nazis. For Ali, it was watching a Western film where kissing and cuddling were considered normal.
The book also features interviews with a number of other figures, like a Belgian Muslim who wants to set up an explicitly Islamic political party in Europe, an Iranian Marxist refugee who cannot understand why the Dutch tolerate the radical Islam he fled from and the "foster" parents who took Ali in and taught her Dutch. There is even an interesting analysis of how radical imams may have contributed towards the death of Van Gogh, and how inter-Muslim differences exist in their experience of Dutch society, from Dutch-Turks who integrate very comfortably to Dutch-Morrocans who have more difficulties. The book also puts forward the possibility that the Dutch values of forthrightness and decisiveness may have influenced Islamic radicals more than they care to admit, and that in the country where the Enlightenment began, there are signs that the Dutch are re-discovering these values, setting up a potentially fierce confrontation with radical Islam. The book is an entertaining read, and whilst reading almost like a travel book, the author largely keeps his own thoughts to himself, instead focussing on the key figures, as opposed to some travel writers who seem to constantly offer us their opinion. The book is a must for those interested in radical Islam in Europe.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First rate, completely absorbing,
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This review is from: Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance (Paperback)
A very well-written book that takes the murder of Theo Van Gogh as its starting point for considering wider issues of tolerance and cultural diverity. It's written about the Netherlands but most of what the author says applies is highly relevent to other Western societies with significant Muslim minorities.
The old cliche of a "warts and all" portraint certainly applies to this book. The negative side of affluent Holland is certainly well detailed; the horrors of the largely Moroccan "dish cities" in Holland are vividly portrayed. Theo Van Gogh certainly doen't emerge as a great hero from this book, in fact he seems pretty obnoxious. The Islamic radicals the author interviews are pretty scary, probably rather unbalanced. The author paints a colouful picture of Pim Fortuyn, and provides a persuaive analysis of his appeal. The author gives no easy answers but certainly makes the reader think. highly recommended.
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