"The letters exchanged between Amal and Odelia are profoundly moving. The conflict between Jews and Arabs has been described in countless books and argued in unending polemics, but here, in the letters between these two eighteen-year-old women, an Arab and a Jew, is the heartbreaking essence of the quarrel. It is the battle of two rights; the Palestinians who have been made into semi-strangers in their homeland and the Jews who have no other place which is central to their history, and which is always ready to receive Jews in flights from persecution. In these letters (an idea brilliantly conceived and carried through by Sylke Tempel) Amal and Odelia educate each other. The conclude together that their two peoples cannot continue to make war. They must agree that the are destined, perhaps even condemned, to live together in the land, as first in two separate states and ultimately, in growing comradeship. This is the book for anyone who wants to feel and understand the emotions on both sides. It will become a classic."—Arthur Hertzberg, author of A Jew in America: My Life and a People's Struggle for Identity

"The best single account of Palestine under the British mandate . . . This will doubtlessly become the authoritative text for the pre-state history of Israel."—Omer Bartov, The New York Times Book Review

"Weaver focuses on the interplay between Pakistani politics and society . . . The debility of Pakistan's institutions and its failure to modernize politically is vividly portrayed . . . Her portrait of Pakistan provides carefully crafted glimpses of its many pathologies."—Sumit Ganguly, University of Texas at Austin, Foreign Affairs

Winner of the Wilbur Award for Best Religion Book

"This intelligent, thoughtful collection of writings from dozens of contributors is the thinking person's guide to Islam in a post-9/11 America. It is only fitting that a major world religion be represented by multiple voices. Wolfe gathers excerpts from postings to the Beliefnet Web site, as well as brief essays from established authorities such as Karen Armstrong, practitioners like Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), and new voices such as Asma Hasan and Aasma Khan . . . The book works well for both Muslim and non-Muslim readers. It is both an exploration of contemporary Islam (Has it been hijacked by extremists? Is it violent? Can Islamic states be democratic?) and a call for Muslims to reclaim their faith by mobilizing the moderate, seemingly silent, majority . . . An eye-opening survey of the minds and passions of progressive Muslims in the United States [that] offers hope for greater interfaith understanding."—Publishers Weekly