THE TUESDAY BOOK: The West Has to Understand the Causes of Muslim Rage ; Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam John L Esposito Oxford University Press, Pounds 16.99

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WE ENTERED a new phase of history on 11 September. Terrorism acquired a new dimension. Previously it had been a local phenomenon, but the technology and communications of the 21st century made it possible for Osama bin Laden to organise a worldwide campaign. Like it or not, we now inhabit one world: what happens in Afghanistan or the West Bank today is likely to have repercussions in New York or London tomorrow. So if, like the Bush administration, we try to isolate ourselves, the world will come to us - in terrifying ways. Our old ways of thinking no longer suffice.

In Unholy War, John Esposito, an American scholar of Islam, has entered fully into the experience of …