God Willing: The Politics of Islamism in Bangladesh

Extract

God Willing: The Politics of Islamism in Bangladesh. By Ali Riaz. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004. 232p. $69.00 cloth, $28.95 paper.

Ali Riaz's book may be too easily dismissed as either glib or alarmist. It opens with an attention-getting question that is the title of Chapter 1: “Is Bangladesh Becoming a Taliban State?” Riaz's answer is startling: For reasons elaborated upon, “it becomes clear that a variant of Talibanism is on the horizon” (p. 11). The rest of the book is divided into chapters that support his thesis. There are copious detailed footnotes, an extensive bibliography, appendices that provide a useful chronology of political events, and descriptions of the leaders of Bangladesh.