What Comes After the Failed Policy of Containment: Review of Engaging the Muslim World - Anis Shivani

Engaging the Muslim World exposes the fallacies of recent myths constituting Islam Anxiety, and offers the first real alternative course of pragmatic engagement. While faulting the Muslim world where fault is due, it also understands its legitimate grievances. It deplores short-sighted policy machinations, without indulging in America-bashing. It seeks the highest possible moral ground for sustained engagement. The book aims for nothing less than a complete reorientation of U.S. foreign policy toward the most misunderstood part of the world, and it brilliantly succeeds.

Cole's book, by focusing on actual public opinion as it has evolved over the years (rather than resorting to the mythical "Arab street") and the facts of political history, shows a way out of both Islam Anxiety and America Anxiety. Solving the Israel-Palestine problem alone would defuse "ninety percent" of America Anxiety. The Obama administration, as it seeks to correct a decade of self-fulfilling phobias, will find no better guide than this nuanced, clear-headed, visionary book.