After reading excerts from Spencer's book and some of the reader's reviews of it I will for the sake of expediency assume that the basic premises he made in his book are true.

Having said this I will want to expand upon the premise of his book. It seems that if you have a problem with Islamic Fundamentalism or Islam in general you ultimately have a problem with the concept of monotheism. The very nature of monotheism is that there is one and only one god (religion) and all other gods are false gods (religions). Intolerance and the fruits of intolerance can not help but to grow out of this mind set.

Monotheists have always displayed a tendency toward intolerance from Pharoh Akhenaten to the Inquisition to the Puritians to the Talibian. It is in their blood (theologically speaking). Religious extreamism and even violence is common. In the Jewish Scriptures (Book of Joshua) there is an example of a genocidial "Holy War." The Christian New Testament is full of examples of intolerance, the disputes between Jesus and the Jewish religious establishment is but one example. The Apostle Paul not only condems his former colleagues, the Pharisees but also the pagan Mystery Cults and gnostic Christians. Fast forward a few thousand years to the Crusades. With the rise of the renaissance and the reformation you have new ideas springing up. Luther and Calvin two pillars of the Reformation were unwilling to extend the tolerance they asked for to other Protestants.

I could go on all day but my point remains the same. Islam is yet another example of monotheistic thinking and behavior. If you wish to address the problem of Islamic fundamentalism or Islam you need to do the following:

1) Buy a fuel efficient car and insist that our leaders move us toward a post-oil energy regime.

2) Insist on secular governments at home and aboad that embrance the concept of seperation of Church (Mosque, Synagoge, Temple) and state. True religious freedom can only come about under this arrangement.

3) Enlist in the military. If we are in a war against Islamic terrorism don't just sit there enlist!!

Take care.

I recommend this book for analysts/scholars only. For it exemplifies the current attack -not just physically, but also culturally- on Islam and Muslims. The allegations about the 'myth' of Islamic tolerance in the book should be analyzed as part of a set of arguments that are used in a campaign against Islam conducted by Evangelical and -more visibly- Zionist extremists sponsored by the same groups who support Israel (the great examplar of tolerance!!!) in its killings and human rights abuses. (This is why, I think, some authors pay special attention to Palestinian Muslims, without, of course, saying anything about the Israeli oppression over civilians.) The authors also make some obvious logical mistakes, one of which is the irony of arguing against what the great majority of experts say about specific examples of Islamic tolerance, such as Andalusia, which is universally accepted -as the editor himself refers to- as the prime examplar of ethnic and religious tolerance. Such mistakes makes the book all the more 'unbelievable'.

Thus, for a 'regular' reader it is impossible to read the whole book: you have to be either an analyst, or someone who already has prejudices against Muslims. Just like most reviewers here. It is clear that they feel OK when they see the allegations they already believe in are being repeated -allegations based on weak evidence and outright lies produced in the past by some Orientalists who were in the service of the colonial governments of the time. (Some reviewers obviously work together as a 'team'!)

In sum, the book is valuable as an object of scrutiny (on the prejudices against Muslims and new forms of colonialism), and has no value at all for those who seek the truth about Islam.