In recent years, deadly terrorist attacks in European and American cities have drawn attention to the differences between the Muslim world and the West. Many Americans are surprised to find that Muslims have a negative attitude toward the US government. The widespread distrust of the United States and the European countries is not something that occurred in a short period of time, however. The Struggle for Identity: Islam and the West explores the history of contact between the Muslim and Western civilizations during the fourteen centuries since Islam was established. It discusses the spread of Islamic influence into Europe, the impact of the Crusades during the Medieval period, the legacy of European colonialism in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, and the involvement of the US government and military in Muslim lands over the past 75 years.
