The Cartoons That Shook the World - Hardcover

Klausen, Jytte

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0300124724 ISBN 13: 9780300124729

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2009

Synopsis

On September 30, 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published twelve cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Five months later, thousands of Muslims inundated the newspaper with outpourings of anger and grief by phone, email, and fax; from Asia to Europe Muslims took to the streets in protest. This book is the first comprehensive investigation of the conflict that aroused impassioned debates around the world on freedom of expression, blasphemy, and the nature of modern Islam.

 

Jytte Klausen interviewed politicians in the Middle East, Muslim leaders in Europe, the Danish editors and cartoonists, and the Danish imam who started the controversy. Following the winding trail of protests across the world, she deconstructs the arguments and motives that drove the escalation of the increasingly globalized conflict. She concludes that the Muslim reaction to the cartoons was not―as was commonly assumed―a spontaneous emotional reaction arising out of the clash of Western and Islamic civilizations. Rather it was orchestrated, first by those with vested interests in elections in Denmark and Egypt, and later by Islamic extremists seeking to destabilize governments in Pakistan, Lebanon, Libya, and Nigeria. Klausen shows how the cartoon crisis was, therefore, ultimately a political conflict rather than a colossal cultural misunderstanding.

About this title

About the Author

Jytte Klausen is Professor of Comparative Politics at Brandeis University. She is the author of The Islamic Challenge: Politics and Religion in Western Europe and War and Welfare: Europe and the United States, 1945 to the Present. She lives in Waltham, MA.

Review

Newstalk host Sean Moncrieff’s Recommended Book, November 2009

(Sean Moncrieff)

“For all its newsworthiness, the Danish cartoons affair remains obscure. Jytte Klausen...has written what must rank as the definitive account. It is a model of investigation and exposition. She demonstrates that the global ructions were not some spontaneous eruption of anger, but a campaign orchestrated for political advantage by a series of actors.”―Oliver Kamm, Prospect

(Oliver Kamm)

"The definitive account of the Danish cartoon controversy...beautifully constructed and intelligent."--Steven Poole, The Guardian (UK) (The Guardian)

"Astute interpretive history...Klausen conveys unusual insight into the furor's geopolitical repercussions."--Arch Puddington, The Weekly Standard (The Weekly Standard)

“Unlike most of those who sounded off during the affair, [Klausen] has followed in detail the domestic Danish debate and interviewed many of the protagonists. In her dissection of the controversy, she nimbly dispels a string of falsehoods and misperceptions.”―The Economist

(The Economist)

“Meticulously documents the enormous diplomatic and political machinations that sprang into action to transform an editorial lark in faraway Jutland into a global campaign to censor Islam's critics.”―Ezra Levant, Toronto Globe and Mail (Toronto Globe and Mail)

“Patient and deeply informed and seeks to complicate our understanding of an event that is easily oversimplified.”―Christopher Caldwell, The Weekly Standard

(The Weekly Standard)

“An important, thorough history of the Danish cartoon controversy, based on sound scholarship.”―David Gura, Columbia Journalism Review (Columbia Journalism Review)

“This book is deeply researched and sensitively written. It tells a story that had to be told. A must read!” ―Baroness Kishwer Falker, Member of the House of Lords

(Baroness Kishwer Falker)

“A balanced and meticulously researched account of the events surrounding the Danish cartoons controversy.  Full of valuable insights and recommendations, this is a must read for policy makers, community leaders, and all interested in good relations between the West and Muslims.”―Bhikhu Parekh, author of A New Politics of Identity

(Bhikhu Parekh)

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0300124724
• ISBN 13: 9780300124729
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 230