Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Apr 2005
336 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
In the aftermath of 9/11, Yaroslav Trofimov spent three years crisscrossing the Islamic world to create this unprecedented report. A speaker of Arabic, he mingled with ordinary Muslims, prominent clerics, and heads of state alike to paint a ground-level picture of Islamic life as it is being changed by the Western war on terror. The countries and regions through which Trofimov travels, from Sarajevo to Kandahar, reveal the pitfalls of trying to revamp a civilization that the West largely misunderstands. A sensitive, provocative portrait of a critical period in Muslim history, Faith at War introduces surprising ties between the Islamic world and our own.
"Even where I found myself quarrelling with some of Trofimov's analysis, I felt grateful for his detailed eyewitness accounts and independent point of view. Wherever the road twists next, American readers can only hope that its journalistic travelers include more like Trofimov, who has the language and courage to climb over daunting barriers, to report plainly on what he sees and hears and feels on the other side." - The Washington Post.
"If there isn't much of a theme to all this globe hopping beyond showing that Islam is a lot more diverse than most Americans realize, Trofimov puts just the right blend of cultural perspective and personal experience into his tour." - Publishers Weekly.
"… this book deserves a wide readership. The Muslims don't understand us, we don't understand them. Faith at War goes a long way toward solving the second part of that dismal equation." - The New York Times Sunday Book Review.
"The stylishly written, keenly observed dispatches that make up Faith at War deliver mostly bad news. The United States is regarded, across large swaths of the Muslim world, with a mixture of suspicion and hatred that military action in Afghanistan and Iraq has fanned to a white-hot intensity. Moderate Muslim voices are being drowned out by the screaming of fanatics." - The New York Times.
"As one mullah says, "We only believe in American technology. We don't believe in American democracy, because the Americans themselves don't have any."Essential for readers walking the minefield of U.S.-Arab relations - for anyone trying to follow the news." - Kirkus Reviews.
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Photo © Courtesy of Author
Yaroslav Trofimov is the chief foreign-affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting for two consecutive years, in 2022 and 2023. Before covering the Russian war on Ukraine, he reported on most major conflicts of the past two decades, serving as the Journal's bureau chief in Afghanistan and Pakistan and as a correspondent in Iraq. He holds an MA from New York University and is the author of two critically acclaimed books, Faith at War and The Siege of Mecca.
Author Interview
Link to Yaroslav Trofimov's Website
Name Pronunciation
Yaroslav Trofimov: jaro-slav trophy-mov
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