Posted on 08/02/2006 6:59:47 AM PDT by aculeus
This spring, in my capacity as publisher of Encounter Books, I had the honor to publish Melanie Phillips's book Londonistan, a brilliant, but also harrowing, look at the ways in which radical Islam has established itself in England. The book carries endorsements from such well respected experts on the subject as Natan Sharansky, Daniel Pipes, and Steve Emerson. It has been widely reviewed here and in England, to admiring praise from those (like me) who regard radical Islam as a terrible threat, and to sometime hysterical consternation from those who believe that Islam is a religion of peace or who at least cannot bear the spectacle of anyone actually defending Western civilization (that's capitalist, Christian civilization) against its enemies. Last week it was the Communists, this week it is the mullahs: the bottom line is that in the battle of Us against Them, We are always to blame.
For those in doubt about how deeply ingrained the latter sentiment is in the institutional life of our culture, I offer the following communication from Wayne Roylance, Adult Selection Coordinator at Brooklyn Public Library in New York. A reader had asked that the Library purchase Londonistan. He received this reply from Mr. Roylance:
"Thank you for your question. Normally, the library doesn't add a nonfiction title to the collection (and especially one that is potentially incendiary) unless a review from a trusted source (professional journals) can be found. Unfortunately, we have not found such a review for Londonistan. Therefore, at this time, the library will not be adding Londonistan to the collection."
Very high-minded of you, Wayne, to forbear adding "potentially incendiary" stuff to the pristine shelves of the Brooklyn Public Library. But wait, what counts as "potentially incendiary" to the guardians of the public purse at The New York Public Library? We know that Londonsitan counts, never mind that the historian Daniel Johnson, writing in Commentary, said that "Anyone who cares about Britain, or indeed about the survival of Judeo-Christian civilization, should read Melanie Phillips's brave and disturbing book." But what about some of the Library's other recent acquisitions? Consider Empire by the Duke University professor Michael Hardt and the Italian terrorist Antonio Negri. Apparently that book is not "potentially incendiary," though it argues that "militancy today is a positive, constructive, and innovative activity." Or how about Al Franken's book Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them): A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right? Brooklyn readers can find that little bijou on the shelves of their public library. They can also find, to move from the political to the pornographic, Toni Bentley's paean to sodomy, The Surrender: An Erotic Memoir. That, too, is available to readers at the Brooklyn Library. (Nor does Bentley's book represent an aberration for Brooklyn's Selection Committee: readers can also edify themselves with Ron Jeremy: the long hard life of a porn star or, moving back to politics, From Oslo to Iraq and the Road Map by the late Edward W. Said, the left-wing Columbia professor PLO sympathizer.)
According to the Brooklyn Public Library's website, "Contemporary materials representing various points of view . . . including materials that reflect current conditions, trends, and controversies" are among those that the Library seeks to acquire--except, as Mr. Roylance has demonstrated, "contemporary materials" that might be regarded as "potentially incendiary" by the Left. I do not happen to live in Brooklyn. If I did, I might wonder about how my local public library chose to spend my tax dollars.
Number of points about this book a lot of what it detailed was wrong distorted and in fact much of it has been superseded by events
But if you want a quick and dirty confirmation of just how screwed up your library's priorities are, not to mention how free they are with other peoples' money, look to see how many copies of the Clintons' books they've purchased.
What errors were made in the book? I'm curious, because I am thinking about buying it.
Miami-Dade wants to remove a book that protrays Cuba as a little paradise for children (i.e. blatantly lies). ACLU goes ballistic.
Brooklyn wants to remove a book that protrays the UK as sucumbbing to dhimmitude (i.e. tells the truth). ACLU is nowhere in sight.
In any case, the point here is about what the library's up to, not the merits of the book :)
You can get "Londonistan" and another equally important book, "While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within" by Bruce Bawer. I expect the next book will be "While America slept......
sorry.....both books are available at Amazon......
LOL no I listed the mistakes she had made.
There are many issues here.
1)that we were looking the wrong way.
I detailed why she thought that and what actually happened.
2) That we allowed them to set up shop here.
I detailed why she thought that and what actually happened bringing in the history of the Cold War.
3) What she feels will come to pass.
I went on to explain what actions we are taking today .
I am on the 'wait list' at my library for this book and I'd appreciate more information about it's inaccuracies and distortions.
Thank you
To be fair, the Brooklyn library wasn't removing the book, it was refusing to purchase it.
She maintained that 7/7th happend due to the fact that we allowed Islamic terrorists to flourish due to liberal policies and Political correctness.
This is a total distortion of the facts, the fact is/was Different priorities, until quite recently the majority of Britain’s anti terrorist intelligence gathering were aimed at North Ireland.
These included monitoring and fighting the IRA INLA UVF UFF. And smaller cowboy units
MI5, Special Branch and other domestic intelligence agencies also had other priorities as well as the troubles in North Ireland.
This included surveillance of foreign hostile intelligence agencies
Domestic terrorists groups such as the Animal Rights Front, CND, and a lot of resources were also diverted to fight the renewed War on Drugs, requested by President Bush prior to Sept 11th. Other organised crime, organised crime has gone global.
With Sept 11th priorities changed, but it didn’t happen over night, why. Well Surveillance assets had to be recruited , a surveillance or undercover operative who worked in the Irish sphere would not pass muster in mosque.
Intelligence analysts a new orbat has to be drawn up, new faces identified, and retraining of what is and what is not important.
Today and this is very important it is now against the law to preach any form of terrorist activity from a Mosque church or any meeting.
Tony...please to try complete sentences write please coherent?
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