I picked this book up on a whim (as I do) and I am so glad I did. I thought it would be more about terrorism and all the Islamic stuff I've ingested in post 9/11 America. It was not about this AT ALL. Jansen was an Indian diplomat with a pretty intimate understanding of the history and culture of Asia and the Mideast. He starts with a history of Islam and explanation of how the religion is all-encompassing. He then moves into a brief history of the colonial era; Dutch, British and French attempts to de-Muslim the culture, missionary stuff and what an epic failure it was. His dissection of militant Islam starts in the era of Independence following the world wars. It's super interesting how the push-pull of colonialism and independence shaped the 20th century reformation of Islam, how it impacted the new governments of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, and Libya. He talks in detail about the very recent (at the time of writing) Iran revolution, and explains a ton (to me, an outsider) about why it was successful, why Saudi Arabia and Morocco being monarchies are different than Islamic states, and so much more. Very happy I read this.