How to Win a Cosmic War, Reza Aslan
How to Win a Cosmic War, Reza Aslan
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How to Win a Cosmic War
God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror

Author: Reza Aslan

Narrator: Sunil Malhotra

Unabridged: 7 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/21/2009

Synopsis

A cosmic war is a religious war. It is a battle not between armies or nations, but between the forces of good and evil, a war in which God is believed to be directly engaged on behalf of one side against the other.

The hijackers who attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, thought they were fighting a cosmic war. According to award-winning writer and scholar of religions Reza Aslan, by infusing the United States War on Terror with the same kind of religiously polarizing rhetoric and Manichean worldview, is also fighting a cosmic war–a war that can’t be won.

How to Win a Cosmic War is both an in-depth study of the ideology fueling al-Qa‘ida, the Taliban, and like-minded militants throughout the Muslim world, and an exploration of religious violence in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Surveying the global scene from Israel to Iraq and from New York to the Netherlands, Aslan argues that religion is a stronger force today than it has been in a century. At a time when religion and politics are increasingly sharing the same vocabulary and functioning in the same sphere, Aslan writes that we must strip the conflicts of our world–in particular, the War on Terror–of their religious connotations and address the earthly grievances that always lie behind the cosmic impulse.

How do you win a cosmic war? By refusing to fight in one.

About The Author

Reza Aslan is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside, and senior fellow at the Orfalae Center for Global & International Studies at UC Santa Barbara. His first book, No god but God, has been translated into thirteen languages and was short-listed for the Guardian First Book Award.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ana on January 03, 2016

This book explains how extremists think and how they affect the world (Extremist = a person who holds extreme political or religious views, especially one who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action.) Evangelicals, jihadists, you name it, Aslan takes them on and explains their role in th......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on May 05, 2009

This was one fantastic read. I had a recent conversation with a close friend, where we talked about the modern-day dangers of religion, and how some of the harshest critics frame the issue unfairly. They choose to single-out religion as the main cause of terrorist acts such as 9/11, instead of looki......more

Goodreads review by John on September 25, 2019

Though this book is about a decade old, it doesn't feel that way as Reza Aslan explores the impact of Islamic, Jewish, and Christian fundamentalism and how the political aspirations of these groups prevent peace from taking place in the Middle East. He writes clearly and helps one understand the rel......more

Goodreads review by Emily on January 22, 2018

Good overview of global terrorism, an excellent introduction for someone who had very little prior knowledge on the subject (like me). This book is almost ten years old now, but still very relevant, especially given the rise of nationalism in the US.......more

Goodreads review by Louai on February 07, 2017

I am confused. The book title is clear-cut on what it aspires to achieve; providing ideas on how to win a 'cosmic' war and confronting radicalism. In the opening pages, Aslan makes a striking statement that the only way to fight a cosmic war is simply not to take part in it. An exciting premise that......more

Quotes

"In this provocative and engaging book, Reza Aslan shows why he is one of America's leading analysts of the confusing and frightening forces that confront us. It is Aslan's great gift to see things clearly, and to say them clearly, and in this important new work he offers us a way forward. He is prescriptive and passionate, and his book will make you think."— Jon Meacham, author of American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House“‘Terror’ is never going to show up with a pen to sign a peace treaty ending the "War on Terror." The use of that phrase has created a black hole into which serious talk about serious topics—including, by all means, Islam but also Christianity and Judaism--has disappeared. Reza Aslan's elegant, incisive book breaks the spell cast by "the emperor's new talk" and signals that the conversation the world has been waiting for may at last be about to begin.”—Jack Miles, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of God: A Biography"Reza Aslan's is an indispensable voice with an urgently needed message. His book reaches across a world chasm that too many regard as unbridgeable - with balance, eloquence, and rare wisdom."—James Carroll, author of Constantine's Sword and Practicing Catholic“Reza Aslan’s How To Win A Cosmic War hovers confidently over a vast historical terrain, landing where it must to explore how common and terrible apocalyptic thinking is—how it plagues every religious tradition, every inspired nationalism, and cannot be defeated with brute force, upon which it thrives. A unique primer for pragmatic leaders whose patient enlightenment is the real antidote to terror.”—Bernard Avishai, author of The Hebrew Republic and The Tragedy of Zionism

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