An Imaginary Racism

‘Wielding his pen like a scalpel, Pascal Bruckner unmasks the pieties and truisms of left-wing cant with the deftness and precision to which his readers have become accustomed. By virtue of his principled refusal to acquiesce to the commonplaces of contemporary cultural conformity, Bruckner has become nothing less than a hero of our time.’Richard Wolin, City University of New York ‘In the worldwide debate over the Islamist movement, nobody has been more incisive than Pascal Bruckner, and nobody has been more influential. He set the terms of the debate many years ago, and he continues to do so. He is a brilliant writer, and An Imaginary Racism is a characteristically brilliant book.’ Paul Berman, author of The Flight of the Intellectuals ‘Provocative and well-argued, An Imaginary Racism reveals how the concept of Islamophobia has been politicized and distorted, and what this says about the West today. An important work for our times.’ Richard J. Golsan, Texas A&M University‘brave and necessary… Bruckner… has long been a crucial voice in the fight against the new false pieties that are abetting reactionary forces within Islam. We need to attend to his warning, and his promise: “It is impossible to escape the challenge of the century now beginning: In collaboration with the enlightened or moderate Muslims who are its main victims, we must defeat the fanaticism of the Islamists.” This is an “immense task,” Bruckner concludes, but nothing is more necessary if we want democracy to survive, let alone thrive, in the 21st century.’The Tablet

Pascal Bruckner is the best-selling author of many books including The Tyranny of Guilt, Perpetual Euphoria and The Fanaticism of the Apocalypse.