| The Site |
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| The Books |
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"A collection of literature unequaled for style and consistency"
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| The Articles |
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"Raban's occasional journalism is like a running coversation with the world"
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| Bits and Bobs |
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Irregular short contributions from the desk of Jonathan Raban
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| books by jonathan raban |
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My Holy War: Dispatches from the Home Front | | |
| Raban showcases his unparalleled ability to articulate an incisive intellectual position from the morass |
| Struck by memories of his own adolsecent atheism, Jonathan Raban felt he had some understanding of why young people suffering from cultural alienation and moral uncertainty might turn to a backward-looking version of Islam as one way to resist the upheavals of modernity. Yet this understanding was largely - and noticably - absent from any government or political discussions of the issue.
In "My Holy War", Raban reflects on the Bush administration's manipulation of the threat of terrorism to undermine civil rights, emphasizing the US failure to understand the history of the Middle East, and explaining the region's shifting and complex loyalties of religion and ethnicity. He traces the continuing support for a disastrous war to the legacy of American Puritanism: the tendency of Americans to be inspired by a religious fervour oblivious to history and reason. As such, "My Holy War" is a book most certainly written in a post 9/11 America, written in light of the war in Iraq, in a new era of religious ferocity, and in the context of modern-day jihad. |
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| Reviews |
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If someone were to come along, dig a moderately deep hole in my garden, give me a metal box and tell me I had half an hour to put together a 2006 time-capsule, Jonathan Raban's new novel is the first thing I'd grab.
Toby Litt, The Guardian, 2006-09-30 more > |
We need sane voices in these times, and they don't come much saner, or indeed much more alert and stylish, than Jonathan Raban's.
Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian, 2006-04-15 more > |
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| the books |
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| Surveillance
|  Explore the current political climate in this clever, unsettling novel set in a near-future Seattle More > | buy at Amazon (US) >
buy at amazon (UK) >
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| My Holy War: Dispatches from the Home Front
| | Raban showcases his unparalleled ability to articulate an incisive intellectual position from the morass More > | buy at amazon (US) >
buy at amazon (UK) >
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| Waxwings
|  a caustic, affectionate commentary on the manic gyrations of millennial America More > | buy at Amazon (US) >
buy at Amazon (UK) >
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| Passage to Juneau: a sea and its meanings
|  "Gallivanting around the world in a small boat is a continuing education in one's limitless capacity for self-delusion." More > | buy at Amazon (US) >
buy at Amazon (UK) >
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| Badland: An American Romance
|  "No one has evoked with greater power the marriage of land and sky that gives this country both its beauty and its terror."
More > | buy at Amazon (US) >
buy at Amazon (UK) >
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| Hunting Mr Heartbreak
|  An exhilarating, often deliciously funny book that is at once a travelogue, a social history, and a love letter to the United States. More > | buy at Amazon (US) >
buy at Amazon (UK) >
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| Soft City
|  Part fact, part fiction, it holds up a mirror to the modern city and finds there a stage for a unique personal drama. More > | buy at Amazon (US) >
buy at Amazon (UK) >
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| For Love & Money: Writing, Reading, Travelling 1968-1987
|  Reportage, travel writings and literary criticism. More > | buy at Amazon (US) >
buy at Amazon (UK) >
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| God, Man and Mrs. Thatcher
|  Provocative pamphlet More > | buy at Amazon (US) >
buy at Amazon (UK) >
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| Foreign Land
| | Foreign Land is an exquisitely moving tale of awkward relationships and quiet redemption. More > | buy at Amazon (US) >
buy at Amazon (UK) >
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| Coasting
|  “A lively, intensely personal recounting of a voyage into a gifted writer's country and self.” More > | buy at Amazon (US) >
buy at Amazon (UK) >
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| Old Glory
|  Witty, elegaic, and magnificently erudite, Old Glory is as filled with strong currents as the Mississippi itself. More > | buy at Amazon (US) >
buy at Amazon (UK) >
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| Arabia
|  A must read for anyone seeking to understand the Middle East and it's people. More > | buy at Amazon (US) >
buy at Amazon (UK) >
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