The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Faultline Between Christianity and Islam - Softcover

Eliza Griswold

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241952239 ISBN 13: 9780241952238

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd, 2012

Synopsis

A riveting investigation of the jagged fault line between the Christian and Muslim worlds
The tenth parallel--the line of latitude seven hundred miles north of the equator--is a geographical and ideological front line where Christianity and Islam collide. More than half of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims live along the tenth parallel; so do sixty percent of the world's 2 billion Christians. Here, in the buzzing megacities and swarming jungles of Africa and Asia, is where the two religions meet; their encounter is shaping the future of each faith, and of whole societies as well.
An award-winning investigative journalist and poet, Eliza Griswold has spent the past seven years traveling between the equator and the tenth parallel: in Nigeria, the Sudan, and Somalia, and in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The stories she tells in "The Tenth Parallel "show us that religious conflicts are also conflicts about land, water, oil, and other natural resources, and that local and tribal issues are often shaped by religious ideas. Above all, she makes clear that, for the people she writes about, one's sense of God is shaped by one's place on earth; along the tenth parallel, faith is geographic and demographic.
An urgent examination of the relationship between faith and worldly power, "The Tenth Parallel "is an essential work about the conflicts over religion, nationhood and natural resources that will remake the world in the years to come.

About this title

About the Author

Eliza Griswold, a fellow at the New America Foundation, received both the first Robert I. Friedman Award for investigative reporting and a 2010 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome and wasa 2007 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Her journalism has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Yorker,The New York Times Magazine, and Harper's Magazine, among others. A collection of her poems, Wideawake Field, was published by FSG in 2007. The Tenth Parallel is her first book and is the result of seven years' research and reporting across the tenth parallel.

Review

A very courageous and challenging account of the tensions between Muslims and Christians that refuses to settle with any damaging stereotypes, focusing instead on the extraordinary potential for reconciliation and understanding in the lives of ordinary believers. -- Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury In this revolutionary work, Griswold ... has brought back the unforgettable stories of Christians and Muslims along the tenth parallel whose faith is shaping the world's future. Griswold's courageous pilgrimage changes the way we think about Christianity and Islam by exploding any simplistic "clash" narrative. She returns us to the most basic truth of human existence: that the world and its people are interconnected -- Archbishop Desmond Tutu The Tenth Parallel is one of the most important books you will ever read ... No one else could have written this book -- Reza Aslan, author of 'No god but God' Ingeniously conceived and beautifully wrought, The Tenth Parallel traces the uneasy fault line of two great faiths, which have so much bloody history between them ... Eliza Griswold gives us a rare look at how complex and interwoven these two cultures actually are -- Lawrence Wright, author of 'The Looming Tower' Intense and often beautifully written ... It is a fabulous piece of reportage. -- Jason Burke * Literary Review * Griswold's confrontations with preachers of evil, her forays into war zones and here determination to listen and explain took guts ... Mediators could learn much from her pilgrimage. -- Michael Binyon * The Times * The Tenth Parallel is a beautifully written book, full of arresting stories woven around a provocative issue. -- Linda Robinson * The Scotsman *

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0241952239
• ISBN 13: 9780241952238
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 317