What are the underlying causes of the September 11th attacks and America's immediate call to war? Lebanese scholar As'ad AbuKhalil examines the present crisis, causes for antipathy toward the US, and the historical relations between the US and the Islamic world. Beginning with an introduction on the legacy of Western misconceptions about Islam and Arabs, the book focuses on the rise of the Taliban and their relations with Osama bin Laden, and presents the viewpoints - unfiltered through the western media - of people from the Middle East and South Asia.