Gilles Kepel is a top notch scholar on political Islam and its consequent terrorism. His French socialist background made him tie his theories about Islam to Marxist interpretation of the reason behind class struggle. To him, the rise of militant Islam was mainly due to changes in fortunes and the shift in class alliances among the different societies of the Muslim countries.In this brief book, Kepel records his observations about one of his tours of the Middle East in what seems like a reporter's diary. Without going into complicated analysis, Kepel interviews the Egyptian Muslim instigator Sheikh Mohammed Qardawi who is given a show on the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera channel.He visits malls in the gulf and notices, how despite the conservative nature of the society there, young men and women still manage to exchange glances and drop each others notes of love and probably dating as they shop at such malls.What is very interesting in Kipel's work is his long stay in the Middle East since he was a student and his fluency in Arabic. This makes of Kepel not only an expert of Muslim countries but also almost one of the natives.The chapters are disconnected which makes it easier for the readers to start with the chapters that they feel might be more interesting than others. The translation from the French original script, however, reflects a bit on the style of the book and renders it sometimes dull.