Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance
by Ian Buruma
List Price:
Our Price: $6.33
You Save: $18.62 (75%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.27 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Ian BurumaEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2006-09-07
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Book Reviews of Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance
Book Review: Five things about Murder in Amsterdam
Summary: 5 Stars
1. Murder in Amsterdam is written almost as a series of interlocking essays analyzing contemporary Dutch society, going far beyond the event of van Gogh's murder. He describes its development of a secular state out of a society organized by religious pillars and its current confrontations with a new influx of religion. He examines key figures - Theo van Gogh, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Pim Fortuyn, Mohammed Bouyari - as archetypes and as human beings, researching their lives, and in some cases deaths, and the repercussions thereof.
2. Buruma's relationship with Holland is key to this work - he was born and raised there, and escaped its provincial, liberal comfort for rockier shores and a career in journalism. He outlines the traits of Dutch society and people - not exempting himself. He offers the most nuanced and accurate (as a Dutch person myself) description of Dutch culture, its wonders and its flaws, that I have read.
3. He then stretches these traits to include the particular struggles of a generation of immigrants' children struggling to define their place, and thereby stretching and dislodging the comfortable stasis of Dutch liberalism. That their struggles are occurring during, and sometimes contributing to and shaping, the growth of Islamic fundamentalism adds a deeper and sometimes violent dimension to the not-unfamiliar tale of young people caught between cultures.
4. The acts of violence that have shaken Dutch society to the core - the murder of Theo van Gogh by a second generation Moroccan man who became disillusioned with the "freedom" of the Netherlands and embraced fundamentalist Islam, and the murder of Pim Fortuyn, populist candidate for Prime Minister who was killed by a maddened animal rights activist - are illustrations of a society in crisis. Buruma examines both of these events as tears in the same societal fabric.
5. All in all, Buruma examines the multifaceted and nuanced state of Dutch society in contemporary times, when immigration, fundamentalism, growing conservatism, and struggles for the definition of Dutch and Islamic are inevitable. His thoughtful descriptions of the particulars of Dutch society do not prevent this book from offering insights into the struggles faced by many European countries navigating the new century.
Summary of Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance
A revelatory look at what happens when political Islam collides with the secular WestIan Buruma 's Murder in Amsterdam is a masterpiece of investigative journalism, a book with the intimacy and narrative control of a crime novel and the analytical brilliance for which Buruma is renowned. On a cold November day in Amsterdam in 2004, the celebrated and controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was shot and killed by an Islamic extremist for making a movie that "insulted the prophet Mohammed." The murder sent shock waves across Europe and around the world. Shortly thereafter, Ian Buruma returned to his native land to investigate the event and its larger meaning as part of the great dilemma of our time.
Murder & Mayhem Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Murder & Mayhem Books
The Soul of a Copby Paul Ragonese, Berry Stainback
St Martins Mass Market Paper; Published: 1992-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $70.26
Who Named the Knife: A True Story of Murder and Memoryby Linda Spalding
Anchor; Published: 2008-10-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.74
Price in other shops:
Murder, Inc.: The Story Of The Syndicateby Burton B. Turkus, Sid Feder
Da Capo Press; Published: 2003-07-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.49
Price in other shops:
Protecting Your Life, Home, and Property: A Cop Shows You Howby Robert L. Snow
Plenum Pr; Published: 1995-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.47
Price in other shops:
Victims: THE LDS CHURCH AND THE MARK HOFMANN CASEby Richard E. Turley
University of Illinois Press; Published: 1992-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.52
Price in other shops:
The Serpent's Toothby Christopher P. Andersen
Harpercollins; Published: 1987-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.01
Price in other shops:
American Taboo: A Murder in the Peace Corpsby Philip Weiss
Harper; Published: 2004-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.39
Price in other shops:
The Invention of Murderby Judith Flanders
Harper; Published: 2011; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.30
The Enforcer: Johnny "Pops" Papalia: A Life and Death in the MafiaHarperCollins Publishers; Paperback; Book
Best price: $159.82
Lincoln's Assassins: Their Trial and Executionby James L. Swanson, Daniel Weinberg
William Morrow; Published: 2006-10-31; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.13
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
A Globalizing World?: Culture, Economics, Politics (Understanding Social Change)Routledge; Published: 2000-10-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $35.96
Price in other shops:
From Stalinism to Pluralism: A Documentary History of Eastern Europe since 1945Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1996-01-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $30.00
Price in other shops:
The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent 1945 to the Presentby William I. Hitchcock
Anchor; Published: 2004-02-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.05
Price in other shops:
Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK's Appeal to Protestant America, 1915-1930 (Culture America)by Kelly J. Baker
Univ Pr of Kansas; Published: 2011-09-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.68
Price in other shops:
Why Race Matters in South Africaby Michael MacDonald
Harvard University Press; Published: 2006-04-30; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $51.92
Price in other shops:
The Rise of Islamic Capitalism: Why the New Muslim Middle Class Is the Key to Defeating Extremism (Council on Foreign Relations Books (Free Press))by Vali Nasr
Free Press; Published: 2010-06-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.75
Price in other shops:
Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941-1968by Heda Margolius Kovaly
Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc.; Published: 1997-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.20
Price in other shops:
The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dreamby Jeremy Rifkin
Tarcher; Published: 2005-08-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.01
Price in other shops:
For Love of Country?by Martha Nussbaum, Joshua Cohen
Beacon Press; Published: 2002-06-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.96
Price in other shops:
Latin America after the Neoliberal Debacle: Another Region is Possibleby Richard A. Dello Buono, Ximena de la Barra
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; Published: 2009-01-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $28.00
Price in other shops: