Solomonia Archive: More Prayers for the Assassin

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Jeff Jacoby reviews Robert Ferrigno's excellent novel, Prayers for the Assassin (has that guy gotten more publicity for a novel than anyone in recent history or what?) in yet another clear-headed Jacoby look at what America has in store if the terrorists really were to win: Life in an Islamist US

AFTER THE terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, it became a cliche that if we didn't do X, Y, or Z -- usually some normal peacetime activity -- then ``the terrorists will have won." For example, the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences justified the decision to proceed with the 2001 Academy Awards by declaring that ``if we give in to fear, if we aren't able to do these simple and ordinary things, the terrorists have won the war."

In truth, though, most Americans have never thought about what it would mean if the terrorists really did win -- if militant Islamists were to succeed in their quest for political control of the United States. It isn't something that elites in academia, government, or the media generally like to talk about, for fear of being branded racist or ``Islamophobic." American Islamists themselves are careful not to speak too candidly about their supremacist goals.

Life in an Islamist United States would be largely unfree and intolerant, if the experience of countries where radical Muslims have achieved power -- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, and Afghanistan -- is any guide. What would that mean in American terms? That's the question a remarkable new novel sets out to answer...

Posted by Solomon at 1:52 PM on Sunday, Jun 25, 2006 | Comments (4)
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4 Comments

#1 Joanne | June 25, 2006 9:27 PM

Not to be a nitpicker, but Jeff Jacoby misread the novel, or didn't read it very carefully. In the Islamic States of America, as most of the US becomes in the novel, it's the moderate Muslims who are in charge and who are the plurality of 40 percent. There is a large minority of fundamentalists (30 percent) and they make themselves heard, but there is also a minority called "moderns" (10 percent) who are as close to secular and free-thinking as one can get. (The rest are Christians, all of whom, for some reason, are Catholics.) Also, music, coed beaches, etc. are to be found in the Islamic Republic, depending on the region. San Francisco is heavily fundamentalist, but southern California is very tolerant, only nominally Muslim, with a strong Latin American Catholic flavor. And there are "zones" in all cities, where one can go to lots of clubs and drink and listen to music to one's heart's content--all legally.

The society in the book is messier than Jacoby portrays it, but it is a distopia, and a fascinating one at that.

I found the premise of the book to be far-fetched and unconvincing. But it was a great read all the same. One strength of the book is that, by not portraying this fantasy American society as another Iran, Ferrigno made the novel more believable and interesting than it would have otherwise been.

#2 robert ferrigno | June 26, 2006 7:03 PM

(has that guy gotten more publicity for a novel than anyone in recent history or what?

ah... yeah, and your point being? kidding. another site dubbed Prayers "the book that won't die" which is just fine by me.

Joanne, your comments are accurate and very incisive. I think Jacoby focused on the fact that in the book, though the fundamentalist Muslims are still a minority, their focus and fanaticism give them power and influence far beyond their numbers.

at any rate, Prayers is the first book of a trilogy. book two takes us into the Bible Belt. fun ensues.
all best
Robert

#3 isirota1965 | June 27, 2006 11:40 AM

I can't wait for Book Two, whenever it comes out (hopefully soon!)! I had a hunch that this was just the first book of a series, because there were just too many loose ends that needed tying up. I was traveling this past weekend, and managed to read the whole book over the course of the weekend. I couldn't put it down!

Joanne was right on with her comments, but Jacoby was right, too. Look around the world. If we are to believe the MSM (I know, I know, that's hard to do), Moderates by far outnumber the Fundamentalists in the Islamic world, yet from whom do we hear the most?

#4 Joanne | June 27, 2006 11:30 PM

To Robert Ferrigno,

Thanks for your comments. I'm sorry that you had to read where I said that I found "the premise of the book to be far-fetched and unconvincing." I'm afraid, however, that I cannot back away from that. First of all, I think the possibility of an Islamic republic to be an impossible one. I also thought that the way you had the Islamic Republic come into being was a stretch. But if the premise is unrealistic, it is still fascinating and very original. As for how the republic got set up, well, I guess you had to think of something. And it all made for a riveting novel. Maybe I'm at fault. It's my own lack of imagination. I shouldn't be so literal. Of course one can use a total fantasy to say something perceptive about aspects of the real world.

I do think that the way you showed the republic itself smacked of greater believability, precisely because you accounted for the fact that the Islamic Republic of America would still be American. Islam would have reshaped American culture, but American culture would also have reshaped Islam to some degree. Even against the efforts of totalitarian Islamists.

I think that when a country is taken over by a regime beholden to an ideology, that country is ruled not by a pure form of the ideology, but rather by a mix of the ideology and the native culture.

Think of Eurocommunisim of the 1970s. You may remember that some Communist parties in Western Europe (most notably Italy's) dubbed themselves as "Eurocommunists." They were Western through and through, and more democratic and liberal than the Communists of the Soviet bloc. I don't know how liberal they would've been if they had actually gotten into power, but I think that a Marxist government in Italy might have been a very different thing from that of the USSR.

And think of the Soviets. I've heard of a diary by the Marquis de Custine, who traveled in Russia in 1839. He perceptively shows a Russia whose behavior, complexes and attitudes were uncannily similar to those of the Soviets a century later. I understand that it's a great read.

By the way, I look forward to your second book. As for the third book, what's that going to be on? Not the Mexican Empire, I hope. That wouldn't be too interesting. I hope it's on those poor Jews struggling to get to Tasmania or living on that boat that can't find a port (I've read your Web site). Or on those gays fleeing along with the Jews and others to Canada. Maybe you can do a book on the underground that must've existed around the world to help these people, and on these refugees' precarious lives. You could cover several countries and the range of individuals within them.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Your book was fun to read, though. One of my rare forays away from non-fiction and a very rewarding one.