I will say right now (and warn those with more....*delicate* sensibilities) that this book will make you feel one of two emotions: love or hate. You'll either understand and see *exactly* what Oriana Fallaci wanted her readers to see and hear (she wrote a letter in an Italian newspaper, and this book is that letter plus added material that never made it into the paper), or else you'll vehemently deny all she has to say and call her a bigot, hate-monger, and anti-Islam. If you are part of the latter group, congratulations, you are the "cicadas" the very type of person she abhors for their willful denial of what is going around them regarding Islam.

This book is no objective, detailed analysis of Islam. Fallaci states up-front that she is not ashamed to say what she has to say. The very first page after the preface, she states, "I am very, very, very angry. Angry with a rage which is cold, lucid, rational". This book's audience is mainly those who are still blind and deaf, in her own words: "a work which aimed at unplugging the ears of the deaf and opening the eyes of the blind".

She is unafraid of what people think of her views, and the letter, later which became this book. The letter she wrote was in reaction to September 11 (she had left Italy, more like *driven* away by her detractors). She broke her years of silence, because in her words: "there are moments in Life when keeping silent becomes a fault, and speaking an obligation". No longer able to stay silent, in the after-math of September 11, as shocked and horrified as any American, she wrote long and furiously. All her sorrow, rage, and passion came out onto paper. The result was what she called, "a scream of rage and pride".

Fallaci pulls no punches. She doesn't sugar-coat her words for the easily offended. She is blunt, brutally honest, and scathing in her opinion of her politically correct-minded country (which, she doesn't hesitate to add, also includes all of Western Europe). She laments how this political correct establishment turns a blind eye to the terrorists in their midst, all the while harping and hating America and its own identity as a country and people. She rails against this establishment that would rather willingly submit to a culture that suppresses ideas and freedoms and individuals and appease, than to stand up and be courageous.

This book also doesn't mince words when it comes to describing the atrocities committed by the terrorists or how the mass Muslim immigration to her country (and the rest of Western Europe) is slowly, but surely causing it to rot from the inside. For her willingness to state bluntly how she felt about the terrorists and Islam, she received death threats, but continued to voice her opinions that were *not* politically correct. For this she was demonized and hated.

The Rage and The Pride was a refreshing book, refreshing in that Fallaci said what she meant and meant what she said. No spin, or skirting of the issue, or waffling on an issue. She was one of the rare people in our overly sensitive and prickly society that didn't give a damn what other people thought. The truth is not always a pretty picture and *must* be told, and she understood this. It's a shame Fallaci passed away. I also recommend reading While Europe Slept: How radical Islam is destroying the West from within by Bruce Bawyer in addition to this book.

I will say right now (and warn those with more....*delicate* sensibilities) that this book will make you feel one of two emotions: love or hate. You'll either understand and see *exactly* what Oriana Fallaci wanted her readers to see and hear (she wrote a letter in an Italian newspaper, and this book is that letter plus added material that never made it into the paper), or else you'll vehemently deny all she has to say and call her a bigot, hate-monger, and anti-Islam. If you are part of the latter group, congratulations, you are the "cicadas" the very type of person she abhors for their willful denial of what is going around them regarding Islam.

This book is no objective, detailed analysis of Islam. Fallaci states up-front that she is not ashamed to say what she has to say. The very first page after the preface, she states, "I am very, very, very angry. Angry with a rage which is cold, lucid, rational". This book's audience is mainly those who are still blind and deaf, in her own words: "a work which aimed at unplugging the ears of the deaf and opening the eyes of the blind".

She is unafraid of what people think of her views, and the letter, later which became this book. The letter she wrote was in reaction to September 11 (she had left Italy, more like *driven* away by her detractors). She broke her years of silence, because in her words: "there are moments in Life when keeping silent becomes a fault, and speaking an obligation". No longer able to stay silent, in the after-math of September 11, as shocked and horrified as any American, she wrote long and furiously. All her sorrow, rage, and passion came out onto paper. The result was what she called, "a scream of rage and pride".

Fallaci pulls no punches. She doesn't sugar-coat her words for the easily offended. She is blunt, brutally honest, and scathing in her opinion of her politically correct-minded country (which, she doesn't hesitate to add, also includes all of Western Europe). She laments how this political correct establishment turns a blind eye to the terrorists in their midst, all the while harping and hating America and its own identity as a country and people. She rails against this establishment that would rather willingly submit to a culture that suppresses ideas and freedoms and individuals and appease, than to stand up and be courageous.

This book also doesn't mince words when it comes to describing the atrocities committed by the terrorists or how the mass Muslim immigration to her country (and the rest of Western Europe) is slowly, but surely causing it to rot from the inside. For her willingness to state bluntly how she felt about the terrorists and Islam, she received death threats, but continued to voice her opinions that were *not* politically correct. For this she was demonized and hated.

The Rage and The Pride was a refreshing book, refreshing in that Fallaci said what she meant and meant what she said. No spin, or skirting of the issue, or waffling on an issue. She was one of the rare people in our overly sensitive and prickly society that didn't give a damn what other people thought. The truth is not always a pretty picture and *must* be told, and she understood this. It's a shame Fallaci passed away. I also recommend reading While Europe Slept: How radical Islam is destroying the West from within by Bruce Bawyer in addition to this book.

Let there be no mistake. This is a book that explodes with passion. Ordinarily that would give pause at the prospect of blind invective.
But.... Fallaci's anger at the violent Islamists and their quiet co-religionists is exceeded only by her fury at a politically correct west that refuses to see our values as high ones, and refuses to see the existential threat facing us. Indeed, she is totally bent out of shape, and properly so, at our propensity to be so fair to everyone, that it reaches the absurd extent of viewing the openly presented Islamist threat to us as just a different culture we are supposed to understand. I can only hope that her book makes a positive contribution to waking us up, because, it is invective and personal, to be sure, but it is also based on horrific facts we must face, as a prerequisite to defending ourselves.

With a rare courage and honesty, Oriana Fallaci shinest the light of the truth and candid scrutiny on her country and the world- breaking a ten year silence after the horrific terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001.

A modern day version of Emile Zola's J'Accuse, Fallaci steps in boldly where most fear to tread, exposing the truths that all of us know but all fear to speak. Fallaci writes that this book was an effort to "open the eyes of those who do not want to see, to unplug the ears of those who do not want to listen, to ignite the thoughts of those who do not want to think"
She does this admirably. She attacks Islamic fundamentalists and the arrogance of the politically correct elite whom she refers to as the "cicadas".
Fallaci was a teenage partisan during the Second World War, fighting Mussolini's Fascist regime in Italy and was an intrepid journalist for decades, covering many wars and struggles. Fallaci writes of the frightening Islamic terror network which is growing like a cancer in Europe, protected by the politically correct Left, who manipulate or deny the evidence.
She writes of her pride in her Italian culture and swears that if Moslem terrorists destroy any of her countrie's landmarks and treasures: "I swear: It is I who would become the holy warrior...War you wanted? War you want? As far as I am concerned war is war and war will be. Until the last breath."
If their were more people like Fallaci in the West and Israel, we could certainly win the battle against the Islamo-Nazis and their cheerleaders on the international left.
Fallaci aptly points out the reasons for Islamic terror:
"Dont you see that all these Ousamas Bin Laden consider themselves authorized to kill you and your children because you drink alcohol, because you don't grow the long beard and refuse the chador or the burkah, because you go the theater and to the movies, because you love music and siing a song, because you dance and watch television, because you wear the miniskirt or the shorts, because on the beach and by the swimming pool you sunbathe or almost naked or naked, because you make love when you want or with whom you want..."
She also attacks the politically correct hypocrites of the left who in the name of Humanitarianism revere the invaders and slander the defenders, absolve the delinquents and condemmn the victims, weep for the Taleban and curse the Americans, forgive the Palestinians for every wrong and the Israelis for nothing.

You HAVE to read this book if you want to understand the great strugles the world is faced with at the dawn of the 21st century.

Having written a factually accurate book she was condemned to death by the islamic hordes. They threatened, hounded, followed her and all of her family. She died a natural death quietly.
A MUST READ for anyone that knows and understands the deadly threat coming from the cult of islam. Borrow, steal or buy, but read.

I always respected and admired Oriana, since reading her Vietnam reportage in the 70', Niente e cosi sia.
After the infamous 9/11, she wrote what a lot of people and politicians are afraid of saying. She is just defending our western values against extreme and fanatic export of a religion into the Western Hemisphere.
She shows and writes about many facts, she is very proud to be a Tuscan woman, a former WW2 anti fascist fighter, a proud Italian, a proud New Yorker, and proud about Western values. How can you not agree with her and rejecting medieval mentality where human life is nothing ? where I'm labeled to be a pig because I'm an infedel ?

great book, it was and is a very impressive and easy reading for me. The title is so self explanatory " The Rage and the Pride "

I am not sure what I thought of this book. I laughed at her bravado to challenge Muslim radicals. I do not think female (or male) testosterone will be effective here. If the critical issue were machismo I might agree. I know I am in danger of sounding French, but ideas are the battlefield not hate. I am a conservative but I want to be effective in my opposition to Islamic aggression. I do not feel this book helps in that cause.

Passionate, and original thinker unafraid to be different, whether you agree with her or not. A refreshing voice in the wilderness of political correctness.

Oriana poured out her life in this "letter" to her home country, Italy. A great story, her life, her ambitions, her love of Italy, and her desperate hope that 9/11 will wake up her countrymen to the dangers they face from radical Islam.

Fallaci writes with a pasion. I had never read anything written by her and when I realized that the preface was 54 pages long I thought I would never finish it, I would just go on to the first chapter, but I did read the whole preface and it was worth it. I still haven't finished the book, but I can say without a dobut that I am going to enjoy the "little book".

Fallaci writes with a pasion. I had never read anything written by her and when I realized that the preface was 54 pages long I thought I would never finish it, I would just go on to the first chapter, but I did read the whole preface and it was worth it. I still haven't finished the book, but I can say without a dobut that I am going to enjoy the "little book".

Oriana might rant a bit, but she is right on target with her message. She is not intolerant, nor bigoted when she exposes the suicidal double standards of alleged western intellectuals. Her style is powerful and emotionally jarring. Do yourself a favor and buy the book.

I loved this book. This woman was full of piss and vineger and I loved it! Reminded me of my grandmother who had family in France killed by the Nazis in WWII. She hated her enemies and did everything she could on the homefront to defeat them. The western world needs more strong women who can think and write with this kind of intensity. Arrivederci Oriana, ti amo con tutto mio cuore.

It's unfortunate that the author chose to write this "sermon". I give it one star only out of respect for her. The book has no redeeming qualities. Although I agree with her that the Islamic fundamentalist movement is a grave issue, the book does nothing to add to that opinion. It is a personal recounting of many injustices done to her laced with her disgust for European politicians, the Pope, the majority of Italians, Jane Fonda,etc. Skip it.

This book was interesting for what it was- a passionate diatribe by a woman who has seen more in one lifetime than most of us would in ten. It's not a good book to read if you're looking for hard facts, numbers, or documented trends of immigration and the rise of Islam, the rise of terrorism or the correlation between the two. Fallaci's anecdotes are as close to hard facts as this book gets. Immigration is changing the faces of Europe and America for better or for worse, and Fallaci claims that the "cicadas" (as she calls the masses) will stand by idly, harping on about political correctness while Islam takes over the western world. In short, she thinks that respect between Islamic and Christian or secular nations is a one way street, that "we" should not respect "them" because "they" do not respect "us." Whether you agree with her or not, and whether she's right in the end or not, The Rage and the Pride will be an important narrative for the future, for people too young to remember the political and emotional climate immediately following 9/11.

I'm new to Fallaci having just read most of Force of Reason earlier this week and finishing The Rage and The Pride last night.
She was obviously brilliant, is to be respected and I would have loved to have sat down and had a conservation with her over dinner.
Having said that however I'm afraid she goes a bit overboard in both these books.
She speaks of historical atrocities committed in the name of Islam, and they are many, but seems to shrug off the same type atrocities committed in the name of Christianity.
She doesn't seem willing to separate the radicals from everyday Muslims, many of whom left their homelands to escape overbearing Sharia law and obviously believed there is a conspiracy among all Muslims to conquer western nations from within.
She does make good points about some Muslim activists demanding that nations accept them on their own terms, radically change society and allow them to ignore laws that apply to other citizens in order to accomodate their beliefs but in free nations that is common among activists of just about any group.
(It is however a more dangerous thing to do with this bunch).
The politically correct and cowardly are as she points out wrong in their approach, as they usually are, and bend over backwards, or forward as the case may be to keep from offending them.
Islam, regardless of the p.c. claim of "Cultural studies," should not be taught in public schools, special rooms should not be set aside in the schools for them to pray, Muslim cab drivers should not be allowed to pick and choose their passengers based on their religious beliefs and Muslims should be required to obey every law and their employer's rules and regulations in the same fashion as any other citizen.
Unfortunately at this point, because of the war on terror they are a somewhat politically "protected" group and Islamic activists will take advantage of the fact.
Here in America we have seen it with one group after another since the sixties.
Its nothing new to us and while the demands for accomodation in some cases are somewhat different they are mostly very similar to those of other "favored" groups.

For all who want to read a no holds barred critique of how the West simpers and grovels before the tower of political correctness read this. For those who say that is to harsh, I just watched today on the news that The London Star has just pulled a parody of itself because it might offend some Muslems. Never, never, never would a newspaper think of doing that for anyone else. As for the guy who trashed it after admitting he hadn't read it Huh? Nuf said. This should be required reading in every classroom in Europe and the U.S. It is time the truth is yelled from the rooftops as Fallaci does so well. One piece of advice, read it straight through in 1 sitting (it will take 4 or 5 hours) I wish I had. I think you will feel the full force that way. By the way, as it is wrong about the entire book so is Publisher's Weekly wrong about her translation. She explains it in the beginning ( they must have missed that part ) and it makes it all the more real, as well as reminding us that she is writing to Italians which I forgot occasionally.

I have been a fan of Oriana for the last 30 years. Her objectivity, fairness and compassion has impressed me when reporting on Vietnam, Mexico City, her interviews with History, her letter to a child never born.
However The Rage and the Pride deeply disappointed me. It seems to me that Oriana in her age has lost her valleys of understanding, compassion and objectivity and is living in the peaks of irrational and passionate hate. I am very sorry to see that one of the great and most excellent journalists of our times has decided to let herself fall into the abysm of rage and pride.

A forceful and emotional "sermon" - we see ourselves in the looking glass through the words of Fallaci. Laughably, Publishers Weekly declares (in a statement thoroughly fearful and utterly dripping of politically correctness - exactly what Fallaci chastizes us for) that the book "will not sit well with American readers". Such utter rubbish from Publishers Weekly... If you think we're not facing a war for the soul of this nation and you want to sit around the campfire and sing happy songs and hold hands, then please, by all means, have at it.

Just as Paul Revere sounded an alarm that shook the world, Oriana Fallaci's female voice is a primal scream and a clarion call for all freedom-loving people. How long will it take for democratic governments to take her words to heart? How long will it take for Muslim women to rebel over the injustice in their lives? This small book, her "sermon," should be widely read and if need be smuggled into every Muslim country in the world.

I recommend this book, Oriana Fallaci's 'sermon', on the need for us in the Western World to wake and fight against Moslem fundamentalism. I do not understand how the professional reviewer found the usage of her term 'cicada' to be unclear. It represents the incessant monotonous chorus of the appeasers and rationalizers who allow death loving, tolerance hating structures to develop in our midst.

Hearing of the author's recent death brought me to read this small book. I find that her worldliness and experience validate her as a voice to be heeded and respected. If you value personal freedom, do read this book.

I recommend this book, Oriana Fallaci's 'sermon', on the need for us in the Western World to wake and fight against Moslem fundamentalism. I do not understand how the professional reviewer found the usage of her term 'cicada' to be unclear. It represents the incessant monotonous chorus of the appeasers and rationalizers who allow death loving, tolerance hating structures to develop in our midst.

Hearing of the author's recent death brought me to read this small book. I find that her worldliness and experience validate her as a voice to be heeded and respected. If you value personal freedom, do read this book.

"The Rage and the Pride," by the late Oriana Fallaci, is an interesting book which has and probably will continue to upset many individuals in that it speaks out against Islamic terrorists belonging to the Muslim faith. These individuals have sent her death-threat letters and they have also attempted countless times to have the text banned across both Europe, where it has been the subject of intensive disputes, and America, yet they have failed miserably as the text has become a top seller in countries like Italy, France, and Germany, and at the time of this review, it is currently ranked at #11 on Amazon's bestseller list. In this book, Fallaci explores the possibility of Islamic domination of Western civilization, which is likely to occur if leaders of Western civilization remain irresponsive. She defends Western civilizations, including North America, by not only encouraging them to fight back, but also countering numerous assertions that the U.S. itself is to blame for the events surrounding 9/11, of which Fallaci herself was a victim. In addition to sharing her insights on Islamic terrorism and defending American civilizations, she also provides somewhat of an autobiography of herself and also details how "The Rage and the Pride" was influenced by more than just 9/11's destruction of her home in Manhattan.

Let me first off admit that I haven't read this entire book, just some carefully chosen excerpts. But what I have seen is certainly cause for concern, regardless of the rest of the book's content. Oriana Fallaci's ideas, however genuinely felt, condemn an entire culture. She does not recognize good in any Muslims. She dismisses every piece of art and literature created outside the west. She propagates that idea that about 1.2 billion brown people across the globe are bent on destroying those who love freedom and peace. People applaud Fallaci for giving voice to their prime fear: that a significantly large group wants to, and has the means to, rip apart their way of life. What really frightens me is the arrogance that allows such generalizations to spread.

Of course America cannot be blamed for any attack on its soil. Our nation never, ever errs. Bin Laden did not release a document in 1998 explaining his objections to the destructive presence of U.S. troops in the Middle East, the unfair economic imbalance in the world, and our policy bias against the Palestinians.

I am not saying that blowing up 3,000 people is a justifiable solution. But the notion that any attack against our country is a result of our innate superiority- that is one I cannot accept. And I cannot accept praise for blatant prejudice against an ethnic group, simply because this woman is being "honest." A better description of her writing might be "defensive": "I do not need to defend their culture. I'm defending mine." "I am fraudulently called a racist, when this is not about race, it is about religion." I wonder how many times she read the Koran. I wonder if she knew that the Koran speaks against murder. I wonder if she acknowledged that the Bible has been used for centuries to justify murder and rape on a massive scale. She writes of Muslims from long ago enslaving her ancestors. I wonder if she understands how many people worldwide were enslaved by Italians, and that everyone at some point wronged another nation.

Whenever I sit and ponder these questions, my mind always returns to one thing: pure fear. Her own, and mine, incited by the many positive reactions to this book. It is terrifying to discover that hundreds of thousands of people could delude themselves into a self-importance complex that threatens innocent lives. So Oriana Fallaci is the new voice of the west, stripped of all its politically correct restraints? Count me out of this hemisphere. I hope that her angry, angry soul finds a little peace in the afterlife, and that something is done to lessen the fury in the hearts of her ignorant followers.

Ms. Fallaci, a journalist & writer with extensive war reporting and Middle East experience, delivered a written response to the day of 9/11 that sums up both the day and from where this attack was launched. I also appreciate her own translation (from Italian) which brings an immediacy and intimacy to her 'small-book.'

Her writing is brutally honest, taking a stand that more of us should be taking-- that we are under assault, we are being invaded, and resistance is being smothered for "political correctness" and the Left's ill-considered rejection of the West's Enlightenment and liberalism that have made their freedoms possible-- from the Classical Greek period forward.

We must apply equally-- "Your (individual & community) rights end where mine begin" and stop coddling outrageous behavior and barbaric 'customs' which threaten our freer existance and recognized individual rights. Otherwise, we do not defend ourselves from slavery and oppression, and I *will* resist the destruction of my inalienable rights.

Oriana Fallaci's THE RAGE AND THE PRIDE is one of the most provocative texts I've read in a long time. Those who call this author a racist and a religious bigot are obviously boring people without any common sense. I wonder if they've even read the book. Most of the one-star reviews for this book, mind you, suffer from terrible spelling and general lack of grammar. Especially laughable is the German individual who wrote THREE one-star reviews denouncing the book (having proclaimed himself a protector of Islam); it would do him more good to learn how to spell instead.

I myself am extremely anti-clerical, but my criticism of Islam has always been especially harsh. It is a terrible perversion of an otherwise sensible Abrahamic faith, filled with inconsistencies and filthy lies. As such, it is doomed to extinction. The bad thing is that it will try to take OUR civilization down with it, before it finally expires in a putrid cloud of decomposed dogma.

Fallaci's book addresses all of these dangers and begs Americans and Europeans to WAKE UP before it is too late. Civil law has granted us general freedom of religion, now one religion is endangering the aforementioned civil law. In order to maintain our civil liberties, we need to put our foot down and curb the one (or more) religion(s) that could potentially prove dangerous to the wellbeing of our country-- as well as our entire civilization as we know it.

Oriana Fallaci's tirade against Islamic Fundamentalists, written after September 11, may not be a very well balanced analysis of tendencies in the Islamic World. It may also have some basic flaws as an English text, as the summary in Amazon suggests.
But it is basically true and therefore had to be said. I am guilty of cultural relativism myself, so I have a right to make a lopsided statement. Yes, we have to resist these people. Yes, we need to say it clearly. No, the fact that they may be a minority doesn't make it irrelevant to attack them.
That refers to the book.
As far as the right reaction to the challenge is concerned, that may be better served in a different way though. As long as we understand the challenge.
I am not talking about political correctness, but about political smartness. It is not good politics to stop differentiating. It increases the number of enemies.
However it helps by letting off steam.

Oriana Fallaci's tirade against Islamic Fundamentalists, written after September 11, may not be a very well balanced analysis of tendencies in the Islamic World. It may also have some basic flaws as an English text, as the summary in Amazon suggests.
But it is basically true and therefore had to be said. I am guilty of cultural relativism myself, so I have a right to make a lopsided statement. Yes, we have to resist these people. Yes, we need to say it clearly. No, the fact that they may be a minority doesn't make it irrelevant to attack them.
That refers to the book.
As far as the right reaction to the challenge is concerned, that may be better served in a different way though. As long as we understand the challenge.
I am not talking about political correctness, but about political smartness.

A must read and wake up call for those who want to preserve
Western civilization.

In Eurabia the Islamic danger is growing and, if not stopped, it will spead everywhere. A graet woman, hated by all the politically correct folk, is warning us:if the Europeans shall not react soon, dimmitude is what is waiting for us.

Oriana Fallaci is angry. Angry at the attacks on New York and Washington; angry at European intellectuals; angry at European politicians (specifically Italy's Bertollucci and France's Chirac); and angry at Muslims in general. _The Rage and the Pride_ is essentially a very long criticism against all of these groups.

I can see why this book would resonate with neo-conservatives and others with a right-wing political perspective, as the arguments Fallaci posits are very similar to those forwarded by these groups. Her criticisms have merit - there are no liberal democracies (in the 19th century definition of the word) in the Islamic countries of the Middle East, many of the practices of Muslims towards non-Muslims and women are barbaric, and shame on those who gloated and reveled in a dark moment in America's history. Yet her book reads like an essay written exclusively from a place of anger without pausing to give a cold, rational assessment of the situation.

Yes, North African and Middle Eastern Muslims have done some despicable things (her example of Sudanese urinating and defacating on a catherderal's columns in Florence, for example) that need to have attention drawn to them. Yes, the descration of the Buddhas in Afghanistan was a travesty and a crime against world culture. But I could not share in the depths of her hatered.

I wrestled with her rage, and could not wholly embrace her position. With respect to Fallaci, who is clearly an intelligent and perceptive woman, she generalizes Muslims into a single group. She also fails to take into account cultural norms among various Muslim groups. I do not make apologies for the barbarities committed in the name of Islam, but merely point out a fact that I would have expected an educated, well-traveled and well-respected journalist like Fallaci to recognize.

I was also uncomfortable reading her lacerating criticism of those who disagree with her view that Islam is the single, greatest threat to the Western world. I am much more confident in our liberal democracy (in the 19th century meaning of the word), in our secular humanism, and in the West's ability to meet, compete and ultimately be successful ideologically and economically with extremists such as those Fallaci is so angry.

Yes, there are "bad people" (many of whom are Muslim) who want to do us harm. Hating them back is not the way to address the issue, as Fallaci seems to do in her book. I was ultimately disappointed in her inability to make a more nuanced argument.

Oriana fallaci uninhibitatly rails against the injustice to the west with the onslaught of Muslim terrorists. She reveals much of what led to terrorism being overlooked, and worries for the future of Europe. I wonder if they continue to allow these trespasses to happen to their freedom by an unassimilated people, what will happen to the liberties of Europe?

I bought this book to read about the coming battle between Islamists and Christians, but was greated by 100+ pages of rambling. Unless you don't have anything else to do, don't waste your time on this book.

This author understands that being 'politically correct' is not always correct and voices her concerns for her nation with accuracy.

Anyone whose political views are to the right of Ward Churchill's take note: the corporate culture of Reed Elsevier is radically left-wing, as is frequently reflected in the Amazon reviews from their publication Publishers Weekly. The one for this book is a good example.

she has more courage than many european men, and simply doesn't want Italy to end up like france. God Bless her!!!

Oriana Fallaci has once again shown great courage in her concise and skillfully written presentation of the current jihad being waged against the Western world. (This translation from her native Italian remains clear and on message.) Her writing is straightforward and heart wrenching; her personal involvements are startling; her recitations of historical precedents place today's situation in proper perspective. She dares to call a spade a spade, and is not weak enough to bow down to the political correctness that has allowed this jihadic invasion to spread to its current level. Ms. Fallaci's pen provides a opportunity for the world to awaken from its stupor and begin to convincingly address this stone-age menace. Bravo to a true heroin of Freedom, bravo to a true heroin of Truth, bravo to a true heroin of Patria.

We aren't supposed to read this book. We aren't supposed to reflect on the questions posed by Oriana Fallaci, such as:

1. Why is it, that of all the feminist protests and demands over the past 40 years, we never see feminists lining up in protest over the Muslim habit of (ahem) "female circumcision?"

2. Why is it, that of all the pacifist protests and demands over the past 40 years, not ONE of them has protested the massive, ongoing slaughter of innocents by Al-Qaeda and related Islamofascist groups?

Such questions probably cause too many thoughts! Like that recent professor who wrote to the editor that he was not particularly disturbed by cartoons, but that he WAS upset by terrorist massacres, beheadings, suicide bombers and so forth. Yet the number of people protesting the cartoons was infinitely greater than the number of protesters who have complained about the OTHER things mentioned by the professor.

This book was put on trial in Europe, I believe more than once. It was called "racist," which is absurd. When you are talking about a conflict between Islam and every other religion in the world, well, you're talking about a religious conflict. It has NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH RACE. There are, after all, Arab Christians and Persian Jews -- at least there were the last time I checked! I suspect that the Ayatollah Khomeini managed to "disappear" the Persian Jews, just as he did the Baha'i.

The central problem discussed in this book is the failure of Europe (Italy in particular) to deal with the 15 million Muslim immigrants to Europe. Many of them are illegal, living off welfare, and way too many of them are sitting in Europe chanting, "Death to Europe!" This strikes me as almost unbelievable, but then I switch channels and see huge mobs of illegal Mexican immigrants, who are living in America, waving the Mexican flag and shouting slogans about the Reconquista.

Of course, if an American or European travelled to Morocco, established a residence there, and then began collecting Moroccan welfare (which does not exist) and shouting "Death to Islam! Death to Morocco!" -- well, how many more times do you think that person would drink water???? How about some American who went to Saudi Arabia and applied for a permit to build a church???

Keep screaming, Oriana, please. Maybe those in America will hear you before it is too late. Unfortunately it may already be too late for Europe. Your wonderful examples of Islamic barbarity should open the eyes of all. Their offenses against Christian holy places that go unpunished (urinating and defecating on church doors), their filthy anti Jewish propaganda that flies in the face of European hate crime laws yet goes unpunished, their bigoted hatred of all things Western that gets turned around and lets them cry racism and bigotry are all starting their migration to America. As you point out in THE FORCE OF REASON, societies commit suicide; they are not murdered. Unfortunately we are following Europe to the abyss as we abort and birth contol our way to cultural oblivion. Where is the American Fallaci?

Oriana Fallaci , I love your style , your truth , and your honesty . This book is one of your best , it is impeccable , well researched , and is a classical piece of literature .
Thank you Oriana , may you live for more years and continue to enlighten us with books of this genre.
Grazie Oriana .

Fallaci calls this short book a "sermon." She speaks with a burning passion about the problems posed by Islamic supremacism. She presents a view of the Muslim threat to Europe in unambiguous terms undiluted by political correctness. And therein lies the rub for most of her detractors. Fallaci tells the truth and they can't handle the truth. It flies in the face of their cozy ecumenical multicultural world view in which all values are rendered equal by relativism. This of course is pure sophistry. Islam is a conquering faith that is spread by the sword. It's tradition teaches supremacism and subjugation of the infidel. She paints a very compelling picture of a "religion" committed to world domination.

The myth of the "moderate" Muslim is a diabolical politically correct canard forged on the anvil of "tolerance". And to the extent that we've accepted this monstrous invention we've allowed ourselves to become denuded and emasculated. Fallaci does not hesitate to point this fact out. That we still allow ANY Muslim to immigrate to this country is a testimony to our failure to understand the problem and a failure of will to solve this crisis.

Make no mistake, Islam is a best understood as a hate cult with the capacity to destroy civilization. William Durant in his "The Story of Civilization" succinctly stated, [Islam is] "probably the bloodiest story in history." He called it a "discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex order and freedom can at any moment be overthrown by barbarians invading from without and multiplying from within." The bitter lesson, Durant concluded, was that "eternal vigilance is the price of civilization. A nation must love peace, but keep its powder dry."

A moderate Muslim is simply a lax Muslim who does not follow the prescripts and tenets of the Islamic "faith." This in no way speaks to the issue of whether or not a viable moderate strain of Islam which rejects Islamic hegemony exists. It does not. The Koran is replete with commands to wage war against the infidel (non Muslim) wherever you may find them. There is simply nothing moderate about Islam.

Alexis de Tocqueville said the following: "I studied the Koran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad. So far as I can see, it is the principal cause of the decadence so visible today in the Muslim world and, though less absurd than the polytheism of old, its social and political tendencies are in my opinion to be feared, and I therefore regard it as a form of decadence rather than a form of progress in relation to paganism itself."

Today we are told that what is needed in the Middle East is democracy. This has become our mantra. But as "Spengler" from the Asia Times recently said, "Something more than democracy is required for peace and prosperity, and that is a people committed to good rather than evil. Democracy in the Middle East means something quite different: Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Muqtada al-Sadr in Iraq. The sooner President Bush changes the subject, the better."

Fallaci has been stricken by cancer. And one would have thoght that her voice would be somewhat tempered by her debility. This is not the case. Quite the opposite. I got the impression that Fallaci has been liberated by her disease. Any restraints that she may have felt in the past (and believe me there were precious few) have been jettisoned and she pulls absolutely no punches.

Fallaci has said: "I find it shameful and see in all this the rise of a new fascism, a new Nazism. A fascism, a nazism, that much more grim and revolting because it is conducted and nourished by those who hypocritically pose as do-gooders, progressives, communists, pacifists, Catholics or rather Christians, and who have the gall to label a warmonger anyone like me who screams the truth. I see it, yes, and I say the following. I have never been tender with the tragic and Shakespearean figure Sharon. ("I know you've come to add another
scalp to your necklace," he murmured almost with sadness when I went to interview him in 1982.) I have often had disagreements with the Israelis, ugly ones, and in the past I have defended the Palestinians a great deal. Maybe more than they deserved."

Oriana's is the voice of rage and the voice of pride. Italian pride and Western pride. Pride in the rich cultural traditions that have been trampled upon and spit upon, literally, by the Muslims. Although Fallaci ostensibly rejects the Deity she invokes His name continually. And so I say, God bless Oriana Fallaci.

Oriana Fallaci has outdone herself this time. After the 9-11 attacks, she has dropped all of her masks and revealed herself plain as an embittered closet Mussolinian fascist shrieking "Italy for Italians"--essentially, kick out all blacks, Arabs, etc. Fallaci conviently forgets several things in her demagogic rant: that first of all, the Italians invited the Muslims into Italy to clean their streets(among other things)and in the ensuing decades stopped having babies and giving jobs to their own young, thereupon exacerbating the problems they now face. But of course, it's the dirty wog's fault, if we were to believe Fallaci. What she needs now is to just shut up and stop running her damn mouth about things she has no knowledge of, because there are enough neo-Nazis and neo-fascists in the West without her adding to it.

Have you noticed how everyone ignores the "Was this review helpful?" instruction, and "votes for" the book as it agrees with their prejudices? Honesty is extinct. And on that subject see how right-wingers seize on any subject to call misled people "PC liberals"? Then George Bush ("Islam is a religion of Peace") is a PC liberal. But I begin by digressing.

This book is an ill-considered, top-of-the head, unresearched rant, by an intelligent woman of great experience. You won't learn much here, that you can trust.

Why, then, 3 stars? Perhaps a polemic like this is what is needed to wake Westerners (and Islamic moderates) up to the fact that Islam is not "just another religion", that can coexist with others, and help start a serious discussion of how we are going to deal with this virulent thing, before Al-Quaida sets off an A-bomb in Washington. Imagine the consequences of THAT, American Muslims.

I'm having trouble finding a genuinely objective book on Islam. Karen Armstrong's book, purporting to be a definitive, scholarly work, is deceptively, selectively pro-Islam, and Robert Spencer has a pronounced anti-Islam prejudice.

- BOOK REVIEW -

`The Rage And The Pride'
a book by
Oriana Fallaci

Reviewed by
Ellison J. Peterson

`The Rage And The Pride' is a book like I have never read before. Written as a result of the events of September 11th 2001, it started out as a newspaper article by the world famous, and now infamous Italian journalist and author, Oriana Fallaci, for the Italian national newspaper `Corriere della Sera'. However, when she had come to submit the piece to her editor, of which he had reserved two pages, she realised that what she had done was "given birth to a small-book." And what a book it is!

Fallaci, born in 1929 in Florence, Italy, is well respected within the news arena and was a war-correspondent in Vietnam, for the Indo-Pakistani War, the 1965 Hungarian insurrection, in the Middle East, in South America, the 1968 massacre in Mexico City and the 1970s Latin American upheavals. She was also seriously wounded in the Gulf War and was a special correspondent for L'Europeo, an Italian political magazine. She has written for numerous leading national newspapers as well as being the author of a great many books. Fallaci is well known for her outspoken interviews with such people as Sean Connery, Sammy Davis Jr, Yasir Arafat, Henry Kissinger, Ayatollah Khomeini and many, many others. She was also a resistance fighter during the Second World War.

Fallaci actually translated the English edition of `The Rage And The Pride' herself from it's original Italian and acknowledges that there are a few "oddities" in its terminology, grammar and sentence structure arising from her own particular writing style and her own translation. Nevertheless, she offers it to us as it is as she wants to have "total responsibility for every word and comma" that she writes under her name in the English language that she loves as much as her own. Actually, I appreciated this greatly and found that it is written in a beautiful style, a style with unconditional passion, pride and rage and a style that only Fallaci herself can produce.

It is a beautiful little hardback book. A hardback which is actually nice to hold with golden writing inset in the cover and a simple red dust cover which adds an air of mystery to it. I would say never judge a book by its cover and this is one not to judge until you have read it.

The book is aptly named in its simplicity, for it is written from the author's heart and soul. It is written literally with a pride and a rage in response to all that she was feeling as she watched those horrendous events unfold on that tragic day of September 11th 2001. It is written with a pride and a rage for the culture that she loves so much and that is so viciously under attack today. It is written with love for the victims of that day and for those of tomorrow and is ultimately written with fierce honesty in a flaringly unabashed style where she feels no apologies are necessary. It "burst like a bomb", an "unrestrianable cry" and what we have is an emotional, no holds barred expose of the author's feelings towards the Islamic faith that openly promotes such catastrophes to happen. 'The agenda being to dominate the world with the purpose of opening "the eyes of those who do not want to see, to unplug the ears of those who do not want to listen, to ignite the thoughts of those who do not want to think."

Fallaci points out that she has remained quiet for far too long and the time to confront a religion and culture (and she states that the "clash between us and them is not a military clash. Oh, no. It is a cultural one, a religious one.") that is so dangerous and is at total odds to our own is now. She writes in her own unique style exposing Islam as "the hate for the West" that "swells like a fire fed by the wind. And the followers of Islamic Fundamentalism multiply like protozoa of a cell which splits to become two cells then four then eight then sixteen then thirty-two to infinity." She writes that she has "remained as silent as an old and disdainful wolf. A wolf that consumes itself in the desire to sink it's fangs into the sheep's throat, the rabbit's neck, yet succeeds in maintaining control." But also stressing the importance to note that "there are moments in Life when keeping silent becomes a fault, and speaking an obligation. A civic duty, a moral challenge, a categorical imperative from which we cannot escape."

It must be in all honestly, one of the most politically incorrect books that I have ever read but one that is written with extreme caution and attention to detail rather than a simply blistering attack with unintended misconceptions and falsehoods.

Such was her dedication and willingness, her shock, horror and love, to pour out onto the pages her heart and soul and to get it to the masses that she worked on it "Without stopping, without eating, without sleeping". Yet, is open to point out that extreme and great care was taken as writing is a very serious matter for her and something that is not to be taken lightly or written half heartedly. She states that it is "not an amusement or an outlet or a relief. It is not because I never forget that written words can do a lot of good but also a lot of evil, they can heal as much as kill."

The book has caused quite a bit of controversy throughout the whole of Europe and the Western world, especially from the Muslim communities. In 2003 a Muslim group tried to have the book banned in France but when that failed they tried to get a disclaimer in each book. This was rejected also. In May of 2005 Fallaci was sued for saying `unpleasant' things towards Islam in her new book, `The Force of Reason' by Adel Smith, the head of the Union of Italian Muslims. However, in June of 2005 in a shocking reversal of events he was sentenced to 6 months in prison for defaming Christianity for which he is well known.

This is a very open and frank book. Absolutely no one is spared Fallaci's pen as she blasts Islam for its open yet widely unknown intolerance, bitterness, hatred and it's ignorant stance on the human rights that we of the West hold so dear. Whilst Fallaci targets various European and American leaders, media moguls, the politically correct, the ignorant and the multiculturalists amongst scores of others she is not shy to comment on the touching unity seen with the support from around the world, the brave fire fighters that risked there own lives to save those trapped in the burning towers of the World Trade Centres and surrounding buildings, and the selfless civilians that did the same.

It states on the dust jacket something of which I fully agree so I see no need to reword it: "With her brutal sincerity she hurls pitiless accusations, vehement invectives, and denounces the uncomfortable truths that all of us know but never dare to express. With her rigorous logic, lucidity of mind, she defends our culture and blames what she calls our blindness, our deafness, our masochism, the conformism and the arrogance of the Politically Correct. With the poetry of a prophet like a modern Cassandra she says it in the form of a letter addressed to all of us."

Indeed, a tremendously stirring book. A book that chucks a bucket of cold water on your nicely snuggled up in bed body and yells at you at an ear drum splitting level to get your head out of the sand. It is a wake-up call in words that you do not want to miss!

With all this she states that "The worst is still to come." And I look forward to reading her sure to be next masterpiece, `The Force of Reason'.

Ellison J. Peterson

Oriana Fallaci treats Islamic Fundamentalism as equivalent to Mussolini's Facism or Hitler's Nazi-Ideology. She thinks, that Osama bin Laden started a sort of Islamofascism, a "Reverse Crusade". We all know the Bamiyan Buddhas (the ones the Taliban dynamited) and the September 11's apocalypse, we know the attacks in Madrid, Istanbul and now in London. Journalist Fallaci wrote in her book: "So listen to me, you followers of a God who preaches an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I was born in the war. I grew up in the war. About war I know a lot and believe me: I have more balls than your kamikazes who find the courage to die only when dying means killing thousands of people. Babies included. War you wanted, war you want? Good." Maybe this old lady (75) too vigorously defends Western culture. On the other hand maybe it is correct, when she blames Europe's blindness, deafness, masochism, conformism considering the growing numbers of culturally non-integrated Muslim minorities. The global violent actions of the Jihad and a lack of civil debate-response remains a constant reality, isn't it? Various imams of Europe (many of whom have been implicated or jailed for terrorist activities) celebrated 9-11 and pushed in their mosques the tenets of a religious death following the words of the Koran and the wishes of "Allah". We immediately should start a discussion with this "religious" scene. We shoud require a statement of the imams with regard to the suicide-bombers. Muslims in Madrid, Istanbul, London and elsewhere in Europe should say a clear and public NO or YES. And maybe, before we start a discussion with those "religious" people, we at first should read Oriana Fallaci's book ...

"The Rage and the Pride" was translated from the original Italian by Fallaci herself; as she said in the preface, she wants to be responsible for "every comma," because of the volatile reaction against the book. She admits up-front that English is her second language and that her translation preserves some "peculiarities" of syntax, expression, etc. Therefore, those who say that it either obviously wasn't translated or translated poorly, and those who say it seemed to be written overnight, are wrong on at least one count and probably didn't read closely enough, if at all.

Granted, she did write it fast, in an immense emotional outpouring of grief, rage, and pride after 9/11/01. In my opinion, her idiosyncrasies of style only add to the power and the allure of this book.

Ms. Fallaci is a devastatingly honest writer; perhaps too honest for some, namely those who are content to tiptoe around the PC daisies.

But in spite of the fact that this book is clearly an emotional outpouring, there remains one inescapable fact about "The Rage and the Pride:" She is right.

Why are we so reluctant to call out the evils in Islamic society, and so eager to see the faults of our own? Her vociferous answer to this question is directed largely towards a European audience, but I think it will still resonate with Americans.

Oriana Fallaci has led the sort of life that is in and of itself worthy of a novel or ten. The more I read about her, the more I like her-- her spirit, her courage, and most of all, the fire in her voice that you can -hear- when you read her. She has a style all her own, and it makes the act of reading almost like a one-sided conversation, the sort you have with that enthusiastic relative where your own silence in the face of such passionate discourse becomes your response.

She called "The Rage and the Pride" a sermon, and I suppose it is. It's also a wake-up call to realize the suicidal and masochistic elements in our own society-- far more dangerous, in the end, than any number of suicide bombers or 9/11 kamikazes.

It seems to me like these days you write one book bashing Islam and you will get famous, because there are so many ignorants out there in the world. This is one such typical book.

C'on we all can live peacefully and coexist. There is no sense in fighting over religion, this is 21'st century. Lets ignore people who create hatred such as this ignorant woman. Love people of all kinds & religion, God will love you.

Spread hatred and God will punish you.See what happened to this ignorant woman. She got punished . Its good she wont write any more books. Thats God's way of saying " Dont spread hatred".

It is unjust and unfair to rate this book on grammar. The book was written in Italian and translated by someone other than the author. That being said, the work holds up to condemnation of islamic people. While christianity had its bad times, including now, it was Mohammed who was the first terrorist raping and pilaging villages and cities in his area, during his time.

Fallaci equates what is going on in todays world as a reverse crusade again christians, which is true. I wish people would pay attention to these times. Bush may not be going about things the right way, in fact screwing things up, but at least he has the right idea.

Fallaci goes on about muslims saying western society has brought nothing to the world, while the Muslims have brought mathematics. Again I agree with her viewpoint. All civilizations and cultures come up with their own form of mathematics that works. Do muslims really think they are something special? Do they think the Mayans in south America got their mathematics from muslims on the other side of the world? How naive. Muslims have brought nothing to the modern world but depression against women and its followers. Western society has brought so much. Trains, cars, planes, spaceships, modern forms of surgery, computers, cell phones and other technology muslims hate and want to take away from us, yet use to bomb us.

The bottom line is this: Muslim religion comes from a prophet who destroyed and plundered cities, taxed the people, raped them and to this day holds them hostage by his teachings. Christianity on the other hand is about peace and forgiveness and love. Priests and popes may have used their powers for their own purposes (arent we all sinners in some way?) Jesus never taught hatred, he never plundered cities, he never raped women, he never forced people to believe him. The core basis of each religion is different. You decide who to follow, which faith to believe in. The one where mulahs condemn your every action and make you wear black robes while your husbands are off screwing 5 other women, or a religion, tho not perfect because of its sinners, strives for a better tomorrow of peace and love through a man who only preached that, nothing more.

Ive read now that Fallaci is being charged in Italy for defaming Islam. This society is going down the tubes. I hope Fallaci prevails. If she reads this, or her aids read this, I hope she can answer my question in a new book... Ms Fallaci, you have written many good books, but now I ask you this: What can I, the common amongst all, do to halt the growth of Islam. You are doing something yourself by writing a book and sharing your views, but common people are but a small grain of sand. It is nice to think of a future where everyone is harmonious, but if muslims (and christians) continue to push any form of religion, there will be wars. What else can a citizen do besides writing a book?

I beg all people to do their own research about Islam and muslims. Its origins, its early years, and it has formed and grown in the last 1300 or so years. While true, Christians did horrible things against muslims during the crusades (even amongst other christians!), you really need to ask yourself WHAT created the crusades. What was the reason behind the first crusade? In your own reasearch you will find that after Mohammed raped and beheaded countless people and plundered their cities, after he took power in the mid-east, after he died, his followers did exactly the same. They waved their dreadful wrath of hell across Europe. Across what is now Turkey, into Poland and Germany, pressing west towards France, Italy and Spain. Spain was devoured by muslim people. The crusades were a call to all this hatred and bloodshed muslims were doing. Can you imagine sitting in your comfortable house, reading or working in the kitchen, and then all of a sudden you are being raped, forced to give up your lands, forced to convert and wear those black scarves. Forced to read the Koran and practice a faith unknown and unwanting to you? Can you even imagine this going on ALL across europe? No wonder why the crusades were formed and why it lasted so long.

Today, Europe quickly forgets the atrocities that went on 1000 years ago. Thanks to this new world order pushed down our throats by presidents and musicians alike, Europe is now letting in millions of mulsims without realized the impact. Holland and France are now approaching 50% muslim population. Does this make sense to you? In one or two generations, there will never be a France or a Holland that anyone can ever relate to anymore.

This review is just a basis of what Fallaci wrote. Barely a comment on all her efforts. My review cannot be deleted, it cant be altered, it must hold up here becuase it is the truth, it is the worlds history and it shouldnt be forgotten.

Fallaci is one angry woman. Sadly, she does not here display the writing skill, the organization, or the preparation to take a solid swing at this.

Oh, I agree with most of what Fallaci writes here; it's just that this particular book is not worth your time. It was obviously too hastily written, it suffers from an irritatingly self-important style (e.g., the author's constantly referring to the reader as "you" and "my dear"), and it features a unnecessarily huge introduction.

The thing is also swiss-cheesed with intrusively awful English. It certainly wasn't translated. Did she write it overnight?

Now that I think about it, the book, ironically enough, has a good deal in common with Arabic rhetoric!

For a much more coherent and useful treatment of the same problems, consult Robert Spencer's "Islam Unveiled."

This work is a diatribe against radical fundamentalist Islam, and the Jihad many of its advocates have proclaimed and are attenmpting against the West. The great opening blow of that Jihad the evil attacks on the world- trade center towers and the murder of two- thousand Americans are the trigger for her rage. She rightly understand that there is something terribly wrong with a great part of Islam today, and that it has chosen Western culture and most especially the United States as its major enemy.
She is also right in censoring those European appeasers who criticize the United States for doing their dirty work for them and contending with the myriad problems created by radical Islam , whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, Madrid, New York, or numerous other places around the globe.
Her cause is just and her anger is justified but she is somewhat indiscriminate in defining her targets. A number of experts on Islam have said that perhaps twenty percent of the world's Islamic population supports the goals and aims of Jihad. This is a huge number over two- hundred million. But it also means that eight- hundred million do not apparently advocate violence against the West. When one talks about Islam one should have an awareness of the need to try and rally those forces within Islam itself which might oppose the fundamentalists. Whether this is a realistic goal I do not know . But it seems to me it should not be dismissed out of hand. It also seems to me that Fallaci makes a mistake in gratuitously insulting great masses. The better way and she often takes the better way in this book is to give specific examples of how radical Islam has led to the murder of innocents, the violent exploitation and suppression of women, outright barbarity in relation to other peoples and cultures.
In short I think the major message of this book is right and it is presented with a great deal of emotional force. I think it should however have been qualified and refined, with a real effort made to avoid gratuitous insult and humiliation of others.
One more point and for me a major one in Fallaci's favor. As one who once was more sympathetic to the Arab cause than to Israel her meetings with Arafat and acquaintance with Palestinian Arab society led her to move to strong support of Israel. In the game of propaganda played in the world there is no people in recent times that have used lies and slander more successfully than the Palestinian Arabs. Whether as