This was an illuminating book. While the author does have his prejudices against traditional Christians (he is a homosexual) he does recognize many important points that the liberal establishment is blind to (multi-culturalism so enfeebles a culture that it is taken over, Europe got into appeasement due to its interpretation of WWII, the groupthink of the Establishment causes problems to be ignored rather than solved. The book explains well current European culture, as well as how Europeans have more difficulty assimilating immigrants. One thing overlooked is how the gay rights cause looks to wind up helping the muslim conquest-- in seeking silencing political, nonviolent opposition to homosexuality, these activists have eroded the notion of free speech that others disapprove of. The Muslims appear to be mastering this concept to prevent opposition to their goals-- under the guise of "Islamophobia".

The Lesson-- If one erodes other people's 1st. Amendment rights, he will find his own rights eroded in turn. The book would be even better if the author recognized this.

I agree with much of what the more recent 4/5-star reviewers say about this book. Overall I found the book to be quite helpful in familiarizing the reader with the issues pointed out by the author, and it contains a fairly comprehensive survey of the kinds and nature of problems that exist in Europe because of the immigrant Muslim population. If nothing else, the book will impress upon the reader the absolute necessity for Westerners to take a very firm stand against the backwards thinking of Islam and the threat its beliefs, practices, and laws pose to civilized nations.

Here are my own comments and observations:

THE POSITIVE:
(1) The book is well-written in the sense that the author is quite literate and has an extensive vocabulary. His writing style is very readable.

(2) Bawer clearly is qualified to comment on the issues from experiential and anecdotal points of view. Some reviewers object that this work is not social science properly speaking, and I agree. However, I don't think the author purports his work to be considered as such. Nonetheless, Bawer still has a wealth of information to share with his readers, and there indeed is something useful to be gained from his observations.

(3) Bawer cites many examples of the problems he discusses, so the reader is left with a very clear picture of the issues.

(4) Bawer has lived in both the U.S. and in Europe, so he is in a position to understand their respective cultures and how they relate and differ. This understanding is beneficial to giving the reader a better insight into the cultural behaviors and mindset of each region.

THE NEGATIVE:
(1) The most glaring problem with this book is its lack of footnotes to document the many quotes and sources that Bawer uses. If he had to access those sources to obtain the information to begin with, then he clearly knows where the material is to be found. By failing to footnote his sources, he detracts somewhat from his credibility and he prevents the reader from accessing his sources to further investigate the issues.

(2) While the book's subtitle clearly pinpoints the focus of his work (Muslims), in fact a substantial portion of the book deals with the reasons why Europeans in general are distrustful of and antagonistic towards Americans. This information is certainly useful, but it does not deal directly with Bawer's thesis, in my opinion.

(3) Bawer makes it clear from the beginning of the book that he is actively gay, and he periodically makes references to issues that center around homosexuals rather than Muslims. Again, those issues are not germane to his thesis, and at times he comes across as making a not-so-subtle pitch for gay "rights." To the extent that Islam formally sanctions the mistreatment of homosexuals, Bawer is staying within his thesis parameters. However, at times he clearly strays beyond them.

(4) As one other reviewer noted, Bawer's material--while extensive--is not really in a format that makes it easy to reference. There *is* an index in the back of the book, but it is not extensive and detailed.

If you're looking for a scientific treatment of the subject matter, you won't find it in this book. However, if you're looking for a substantial look into the issue from a personal point of view--one that is validated by the author's lived experience--then I submit you will be quite satisfied with this work. I borrowed it from my local library rather than purchasing it. If there had been proper documenting of sources, I would have bought it in a heartbeat, for it would have proved to be a tremendously useful resource.

I agree with much of what the more recent 4/5-star reviewers say about this book. Overall I found the book to be quite helpful in familiarizing the reader with the issues pointed out by the author, and it contains a fairly comprehensive survey of the kinds and nature of problems that exist in Europe because of the immigrant Muslim population. If nothing else, the book will impress upon the reader the absolute necessity for Westerners to take a very firm stand against the backwards thinking of Islam and the threat its beliefs, practices, and laws pose to civilized nations.

Here are my own comments and observations:

THE POSITIVE:
(1) The book is well-written in the sense that the author is quite literate and has an extensive vocabulary. His writing style is very readable.

(2) Bawer clearly is qualified to comment on the issues from experiential and anecdotal points of view. Some reviewers object that this work is not social science properly speaking, and I agree. However, I don't think the author purports his work to be considered as such. Nonetheless, Bawer still has a wealth of information to share with his readers, and there indeed is something useful to be gained from his observations.

(3) Bawer cites many examples of the problems he discusses, so the reader is left with a very clear picture of the issues.

THE NEGATIVE:
(1) The most glaring problem with this book is its lack of footnotes to document the many quotes and sources that Bawer uses. If he had to access those sources to obtain the information to begin with, then he clearly knows where the material is to be found. By failing to footnote his sources, he detracts somewhat from his credibility and he prevents the reader from accessing his sources to further investigate the issues.

(2) While the book's subtitle clearly pinpoints the focus of his work (Muslims), in fact a substantial portion of the book deals with the reasons why Europeans in general are distrustful of and antagonistic towards Americans. This information is certainly useful, but it does not deal directly with Bawer's thesis, in my opinion.

(3) Bawer makes it clear from the beginning of the book that he is actively gay, and he periodically makes references to issues that center around homosexuals rather than Muslims. Again, those issues are not germane to his thesis, and at times he comes across as making a not-so-subtle pitch for gay "rights." To the extent that Islam formally sanctions the mistreatment of homosexuals, Bawer is staying within his thesis parameters. However, at times he clearly strays beyond them.

(4) As one other reviewer noted, Bawer's material--while extensive--is not really in a format that makes it easy to reference. There *is* an index in the back of the book, but it is not extensive and detailed.

If you're looking for a scientific treatment of the subject matter, you won't find it in this book. However, if you're looking for a substantial look into the issue from a personal point of view--one that is validated by the author's lived experience--then I submit you will be quite satisfied with this work. I borrowed it from my local library rather than purchasing it. If there had been proper documenting of sources, I would have bought it in a heartbeat, for it would have proved to be a tremendously useful resource.

One of the common themes that appears in many writings of Spencer, Emerson, Steyn and others is that there are many Americans who, for one reason or another, are not proud to be Americans. Bawer alludes very strongly to that as well, and I believe he may even have been one of those people until his long term experience of living in Europe and seeing first hand the Islamization taking place there.

Americans (all Westerners, really) need to understand the total erosion of rights we take for granted being summarily squashed under Sharia. Bill of Rights? Fuhgeddaboudit! All men created equal? Not anymore!

As Bawer points out on almost every page, he is unabashedly and unashamedly gay, and the gay community must someday come to terms with the fact that right-wing America is going to do more to protect their civil rights than the liberals, who turn a blind eye to Muslim atrocities against gays in Europe and elsewhere. Civil unions don't provide much benefit when one's head is no longer in union with the rest of the body.

It is true that most European coutries have ignored the issue of immigration and integration for far too long, causing a certain ghettoization and the emergence of parallel societies. Particularly immigrants of Islamic countries frequently hardly speak their host country's language, perform poorly in school and often end up unemployed. There are also problems with violence, fanaticism and the oppression of women in this particular class of population (left-behind muslim immigrants).

However, it is populist, inconsiderate and hasty to blame Islam for all of this and to predict Europe's downfall (or even the entire West's!). There are several other explanations for intolerance and violence among Muslims in Europe: a large share of them is poorly educated (high correlation with violence and fanaticism for low education in all population segments), socioeconomically disadvantaged and often unemployed (again high correlation with violence and fanaticism for those attributes regardless of religion or ethnicity). There is no evidence that poor, uneducated, unemployed Muslims have a higher crime rate or affinity to extremist ideologies than e.g. poor, uneducated, unemployed Catholic French or Atheist Germans. This is an interesting and important question / field of study, but the author does nothing to bring to light some empric evidence from comprehensible trustworthy sources.

Also, many European countries have failed to design processes for integration (education about rights and duties, language classes, coaching), relocating immigrants to gloomy suburbs with already high crime rate. This is another factor that is hardly mentioned in the book.

Rather than providing new insights based on a thorough analysis, this book is merely exploiting xenophobia and airing itself as the skryer of a dark future...every bit as intolerant and undifferentiated as the fanaticism it attacks.

There are many who will blast this book as being antiMuslim propaganda. That is complete nonsense (but as the author points out in the book, anything less than complete submission to the teachings of Islam will be viewed by Islamic extremists as being antiMuslim). This is a book that desperately needed to be written, and now needs to be read by every freedom loving person in the precariously free world. It is interesting to learn the bio of the author: he is an openly gay man originally from New York who, after taking the Christian Right to task for several years, decided to live in the Netherlands with his partner in order to experience a whole new way of life and the freedom to be gay in a culture that warmly embraces homosexuality. In other words, he's not a Coulter-O'Reilly clone who believes that the world needs to be ruled by the Bible and that the US is the only nation of the planet. We needed an unbiased, nondogmatic view on this subject, and for the most part Mr. Bawer gives us just that. As we read in his book, the evolution of the Europe to which he first moves (a lovely, accepting if a bit snobbish and antiAmerican place) into a callipate in all but name is laid bare for all to see. Like many of the other reviewers, I wish that Mr. Bawer had included endnotes if for nothing else but to allow the reader to view the ghastly comments of the political and intellectual elite of Europe in their own words (I defy anyone to read the comment of Unni Wikan who basically said that if Norwegian women wish to avoid being raped, they must learn to conform to the Muslim ideal. In other words, nonMuslim women must put on a burka or else face their "deserved" punishment of being assaulted). This is a very scary book because it is true. The fate of France as a Muslim state under sharia is all but certain, and most Scandinavian countries seem hellbent on following Her path. I enjoyed Mr. Bawer's writing style (other than lack of footnotes) very much; he makes the reader feel as if an old friend who has been living abroad showed up for a chat about these issues. If the reader wants pure stats, he/she should goggle them or look at a spreadsheet. This is written to appeal to a public who reads "Time" or "Newsweek", not "Consumer Reports". One can only hope that Europeans read this book and take it seriously (which, since it was written by an American, I doubt they will). They need to reevaluate their entire immigration policy (for instance, an American brain surgeon probably couldn't obtain citizenship in Britain, but an iman who doesn't even speak English and openly calls for the overthrow of the secular government and establishment of an Islamic state is welcomed with open arms? I don't get it) and realise that they are harming all of their citizens (including law abiding Muslims) when they allow these monsters to take up residency. Militant Islam may be the biggest threat in history (much more so than Nazism or Communism, since it combines the philosophy of both of them with a lust for conquering and ending the world). Now is the time for the world to wake up and start taking it seriously.

This book contains a rich collection of chilling facts on the growth of radical Islamic thought in western Europe and how Multiculturalist thought encourages many "political correct" individuals to refuse to acknowledge that this is becoming a serious problem. The author has spent a large amount of time living in both the United States and Europe as an openly gay man. I mention the author's sexual orientation because I think it supports how even though the author is very sensitive to discrimination against minorities, he still sees the spread of radical Islam as a serious problem.

Although this book is a quick read with a dense amount of information, it is really written as just one endless stream of facts. I think that the author could have organized all of this valuable information into a much better book. In its current form, using this book for reference is near impossible.

Nevertheless, I still strongly recommend this book as a primer on the growth of radical Islam in western Europe and the moral paralysis induced by the dominance of Multiculturalist thought throughout the continent.

Solely as a recitation of recent events in Europe that are under-reported in Europe and the US, this is a must read. Bawer is a journalist who spent quite a bit of time living, working, and traveling in Europe, and his insight into how real events are morphed as they find their way into the evening news or morning paper can help one make sense of what's going on in Europe, the UK, and the US.

This is not an academic excercise in "what's wrong with Europe". For that, perhaps try Weigel's "The Cube and the Cathedral".