What is Anne Norton reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Anne Norton, author of On the Muslim Question.

Her entry begins:

I’m reading Michael Chabon once again. It’s his new book Telegraph Avenue, of course: I’ve read all the rest. “Summertime Berkeley giving off her old lady smell: nine different styles of jasmine and a squirt of he-cat.” I love that smell. I first read Chabon because I heard him read himself. He was on the radio, talking about The Yiddish Policeman’s Union and I thought it was a disastrous idea for a book. Then he read it. I bought myself one. I bought it for all my friends. Then I read the rest of his work. Then I read The Longships, because he said everyone should. I’ve put Gentlemen of the Road into On the Muslim Question because of Chabon’s...[read on]

About On the Muslim Question, from the publisher:

In the post-9/11 West, there is no shortage of strident voices telling us that Islam is a threat to the security, values, way of life, and even existence of the United States and Europe. For better or worse, "the Muslim question" has become the great question of our time. It is a question bound up with others--about freedom of speech, terror, violence, human rights, women's dress, and sexuality. Above all, it is tied to the possibility of democracy. In this fearless, original, and surprising book, Anne Norton demolishes the notion that there is a "clash of civilizations" between the West and Islam. What is really in question, she argues, is the West's commitment to its own ideals: to democracy and the Enlightenment trinity of liberty, equality, and fraternity. In the most fundamental sense, the Muslim question is about the values not of Islamic, but of Western, civilization.

Moving between the United States and Europe, Norton provides a fresh perspective on iconic controversies, from the Danish cartoon of Muhammad to the murder of Theo van Gogh. She examines the arguments of a wide range of thinkers--from John Rawls to Slavoj Žižek. And she describes vivid everyday examples of ordinary Muslims and non-Muslims who have accepted each other and built a common life together. Ultimately, Norton provides a new vision of a richer and more diverse democratic life in the West, one that makes room for Muslims rather than scapegoating them for the West's own anxieties.

Learn more about On the Muslim Question at the Princeton University Press website.

Writers Read: Anne Norton.

--Marshal Zeringue