While Europe Slept

While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within
By: Bruce Bawer
Copyright: 2006
Doubleday

2 Bookmarks out of 5

I am currently on a mission to clear out as many books as possible from my extensive collection. I will never get rid of a book without reading it, so that's how I came to be reading this book. I got this book in college when my professor was cleaning out his cluttered office. I picked it up because the subject matter intrigued me - I am especially interested in religion and how it plays into the culture of a particular society. I expected this book to be written by an isolationist activist who had never been to Europe. I was surprised and intrigued to learn that this book was written by an ex-patriot who has been living in Europe for the past decade. What I was most disappointed in the fact that his experience on the subject seems to stop with first-hand anecdotal accounts.

While I am not against reading books of different political or personal persuasions from myself, when they pass themselves off as being academic works, I expect a certain level of professionalism from them. In this case, While Europe Slept lacked any sort of note or bibliographic reference when talking about supposed facts. If anyone wanted to check into any story or research report quoted in this book, the reader would have to do some major searching - if these facts are even real at all. Any person reading this book should take the facts with a huge grain of salt. That being said, Bawer does provide a good critical commentary of these supposed facts. However, as with any controversial topic, I could think of counter-points to many of his comments.

Furthermore, I found it curious that Bawer talked of immigrants being integrated into the larger society to see themselves as Dutchmen or Frenchmen. He sees this as a necessity to combat fundamentalist Islam from destroying Europe from within. However, Bawer spends extensive time throughout the book comparing Europe to America and being vastly offended when Europeans criticize America. If he wants Muslim immigrants to think of themselves as Europeans, shouldn't Bawer be doing the same thing? Even more so, Bawer seems to have been so far removed from America that he has a very idealistic view of race relations in his home country. While America is the land of the free, Americans have their own racial prejudices that they have yet to overcome.

What I think is particularly interesting is that Bawer seems to be alluding to the fact that fundamentalism and terrorism must be combated in Europe like Churchill took in fascist Germany head-on. What he fails to mention is that during World War II, England was fighting an entire country and war had not yet mutated to include terrorism. What is interesting about terrorism is that is has no country and can be grown anywhere at anytime - Bawer does not provide an adequate response with how to combat an enemy where there is no physical front line. (Of course, that's just my opinion. If Bawer provided an answer for this, I missed it.)

This book falls short on many points. There are three chapters that are extremely long and not at all user-friendly. Bawer takes some long detours from fundamental Islam to speak of European bashing of Americans. I wouldn't recommend this book unless it already falls into your ideological category or you enjoy reading opinion pieces. I wish I could say that I have a lot of good thoughts about this book - but ultimately I would pass on it and pursue this particular subject of fundamental Islam and the clashing of cultures in another academic book.

Nothing Like it in the World

Nothing Like it in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
By: Stephen E. Ambrose
Copyright: 2000
A Touchstone Book

3 Bookmarks out of 5

This book came into my rather large book collection from my boyfriend. He had bought it because he had heard good things about Stephen Ambrose as an author. However, he was discouraged about the length of the book (382 pages) and didn't know if he was really interested in the subject matter. Knowing that I am a huge fan of trains, he asked me if I wanted it. Never turning down a book free of charge, I happily accepted it. And luckily for me, I had a Sunday off of work so I was able to read it in a relatively short amount of time.

This book really struck me as a book geared towards a general audience. It covered how the railroad was built - beginning with Lincoln's fascination with the railroad during his time as a senator and ending in 1869 with the meeting of the two railroads at Promontory Summit in Utah. This book covered how the railroad came about and how both the Union Pacific and Central Pacific went to great lengths to join the east and west of the United States. If you're looking for a book that covers vast detail and continues your education of the railroad, this is not that book. Ambrose writes for the layperson to understand, which makes the 382 pages less stressful to read. He follows the story by dividing his time between both railroads, which all but re-creates the tension of the race to see which railroad could build the furthest, the fastest.

However, what I was most disappointed with in this book was the fact that Ambrose really breezes over some critical aspects of the railroad. He fails to look into the virtual enslavement of the Chinese while working for the Central Pacific. If the Chinese were ever upset about something and attempted to leave or protest, they would be whipped or be kept from supplies so that they starved. Ambrose also fails to examine the railroad from the point of view from the various native tribes. Instead, Ambrose discusses this detail through the eyes of those working on the railroad. Unfortunately, this depiction is less than friendly and does not give the complete picture. The title certainly doesn't lie when it says 'the men' who built the railroad - women are only mentioned as the strong companions of the men who created this engineering feat.

Other than that, I felt like Ambrose was uninspired while writing this book. He failed to capture the emotion in many of the men working on the railroad. The only person in the entire book I felt an empathy with was Theodore Judah, who was the architect of the railroad and was eventually overshadowed by the Big Four. He died before he could see the completion of the railroad. I wish Ambrose had dug into the emotions of those involved more. I also wish that Ambrose had not repeated so many facts. While making your way through the book, the reader will notice little things that are repeated chapter after chapter. For some, this will be a nice reminder. For other readers, this will become an annoyance.

Overall, I was not disappointed in this book and reading it took me back to late-nineteenth century America. I could envision what the West looked like at that time when it was virtually untouched by human hands. I admired how these men built the entire railroad by hand. But, ultimately, I came away from the book with a lack of inspiration. Instead of feeling inspired by the spirit of American and ingenuity, I wanted more about what the players in this plot felt. I would pick it up if you need a basic understanding of the railroad, but pass on the book if you're looking for a book that deals with the tough question of what American expansion into the West really meant.