An UNMUTED Book Club: Islamic Exceptionalism

​An UNMUTED Book Club: Islamic Exceptionalism

​Next up: Shadid Hadid's Islamic Exceptionalism, a nuanced take on Islamism across a variety of states, with the backdrop of the Arba Spring.

​Here's the reworked blurb in the same voice and structure:

​Hamid spent years embedded with Islamist activists and leaders across the Middle East, and the book is less about any single movement than about the question underneath every one of them: why does Islam, uniquely among the major religions, keep resisting the neat separation of faith from the state that the West assumes is the endpoint of every modern society? It's deeply reported, provocative, and occasionally unsettling about what happens when democracy and liberalism pull in opposite directions—and about the terrifying, alarmingly successful example of ISIS. It walks through Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the Turkish model, Tunisia, and more, and it's the book people keep reaching for when they want to understand Islam's role in politics instead of just wishing it away.

​Show up even if you only got through a chunk. We'll talk about the Brotherhood, the failure of the Arab Spring, and what holds up about Hamid's 2016 argument in a very different 2026.

​UNMUTED is a discussion forum for the politically curious. Accessible. Engaging. Social. Open-minded is the name of the game. Join your people.