A Heart Turned East: Among the Muslims of Europe and America

Adam LeBor’s three-year quest began in Bosnia where Islamic nationalism was reborn as Serb shells rained down on Europe’s ancient Muslim heartland. He set out to discover what it means to be Muslim in the 1990s, living in the West but with a heart turned to the East. He met Muslim soldiers on the frontlines who, betrayed by Europe, rediscovered Islam. He spoke to Turkish rappers in Berlin, French-Algerian artists in Paris and witnessed Turkey’s Islamic revival from the backstreets of Istanbul where modern Muslim women, their heads covered, are news readers and city officials. In the US, he met a new generation of Muslim lobbyists who are demanding a voice in Washington’s corridors of power. East and West, Christianity and Muslim, are at a crossroads, but a global media and a new mix of cultures mean that instead of a clash of beliefs, a symbosis of the best of both worlds could emerge.