In this engaging piece on the relationship between the West and the Islamic world, Mark LeVine, a professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of California, sets out to refute the post 9/11 claim that Muslim terrorists and extremists hate the U.S. and its citizens because of their freedom and democratic principles. Instead, he puts forth an analysis of the current state of international affairs and reaches a very different conclusion than Henry E. Lee’s Why They Hate Us. Levine, who calls for a new “Axis of Empathy” to replace the “Axis of Arrogance and Ignorance” found in both the Global North and South today, warns against stereotyping of Arabs and Muslims and calls for an end to such primitive labels as “we” versus “them”.

As this disregard for the logical and understandable concerns of others extinguishes the possibility of a peaceful co-existence, Why They Don’t Hate Us asks its readers to take interest in the unique groups found in the Islamic world by exploring scholarly works on the history and cultures of the region. In addition to this, LeVine comments on the similarities between the extremist movements in the West and those outside of the West. He discusses the effects of their marginalization and its relationship to the stability and strength of the governments in question. Describing a new era of heavy globalization, with Iraq as its poster child, LeVine promotes the eye-opening, bridge-building power of “culture-jamming”—which he concludes would bring together groups of artists, scholars, and researchers of both religious and secular backgrounds from across the globe to share their experiences and achieve cultural harmony.