Religious Fundamentalism and Political Extremism

Seven essays by scholars of political science and psychology, half of them from the University of Haifa and the others from the US and Britain, look at the connection between the two phenomena in terms of the return of martyrdom, two religious meaning systems and one political belief system, religious violence and the myth of fundamentalism, the uniqueness of Islamic fundamentalism and the fourth wave of international terrorism, Jewish self-defense and terrorist groups prior to the establishment of the state of Israel, counting the causes and dynamics of ethno-religious violence, and fascism and religion. Distributed in the US by Taylor & Francis. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)