The Tenth Parallel, Eliza Griswold
The Tenth Parallel, Eliza Griswold
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The Tenth Parallel
Dispatches from the Fault Line between Christianity and Islam

Author: Eliza Griswold

Narrator: Tavia Gilbert

Unabridged: 11 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/17/2010

Categories: Nonfiction, Religion

Synopsis

The tenth parallel—the line of latitude seven hundred miles north of the equator—is a geographical and ideological front line where Christianity and Islam collide. More than half of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims live along the tenth parallel; so do sixty percent of the world’s 2 billion Christians. Here, in the buzzing megacities and swarming jungles of Africa and Asia, is where the two religions meet; their encounter is shaping the future of each faith, and of whole societies as well.An award-winning investigative journalist and poet, Eliza Griswold has spent the past seven years traveling between the equator and the tenth parallel: in Nigeria, the Sudan, and Somalia, and in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The stories she tells in The Tenth Parallel show us that religious conflicts are also conflicts about land, water, oil, and other natural resources, and that local and tribal issues are often shaped by religious ideas. Above all, she makes clear that, for the people she writes about, one’s sense of God is shaped by one’s place on earth; along the tenth parallel, faith is geographic and demographic.An urgent examination of the relationship between faith and worldly power, The Tenth Parallel is an essential work about the conflicts over religion, nationhood and natural resources that will remake the world in the years to come.

About Eliza Griswold

Eliza Griswold is the author of six books of poetry and nonfiction, including Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America which was awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction. The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam is a New York Times bestseller that was awarded the J. Anthony Lukas Prize. She writes for the New Yorker and is the Ferris Professor and Director of the Program in Journalism at Princeton University.

About Tavia Gilbert

Tavia Gilbert, a six-time Audie Award nominee and multiple Earphones and Parents' Choice Award-winning producer, narrator, and writer, has appeared on stage and in film. Library Journal said of the highly acclaimed actress, "as close as you can get to a full cast narration with a solo voice." Tavia has narrated more than 250 multicast and single-voice audiobooks.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Trish on January 13, 2013

The concept of this book is a fascinating one: the Tenth Parallel, which runs around the earth 700 miles north of the equator, could be thought of as the dividing line between warring religions. Griswold makes the point that north of the tenth parallel, the Arab/Muslim religion and culture largely h......more

Goodreads review by Lisa on January 17, 2019

I never would have thought that I would lead off describing this book by saying, "Griswold's writing is spectacular in its clarity." The author's trip around the middle band of the globe, and step-by-step dissection of the spots on that band in which Muslims and Christians have grappled for centurie......more

Goodreads review by Mike on December 06, 2010

I really like this book for a number of reasons, but first I will say that I almost didn't read it because I generally don't like books that claim some specific place, time or event as something that changed or will change the world - but this subtitle "dispatches from the fault line between Christi......more

Goodreads review by Jamal on February 04, 2018

A great read, with accurate depictions of the humanly hypocritical and situationally paradoxical events that occur on the fault line between these two great religions. I have lived and visited all countries mentioned in this book and have felt the “civilized” tension between both religions knowing t......more

Goodreads review by Jane on June 09, 2020

I’ve been meaning to read this book for about a decade. And I confess the 2019 edition did not contain many references to any events post 2008 that make me feel like a more recent edition is needed. But I’m glad I finally read it; the prose was beautiful and the topic is the most interesting and all......more

Quotes

“Griswold’s courageous pilgrimage changes the way we think about Christianity and Islam by exploding any simplistic ‘clash’ narrative. She returns us to the most basic truth of human existence: that the world and its people are interconnected.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu, New York Times bestselling author

“A beautifully written book, full of arresting stories woven around a provocative issue—whether fundamentalism leads to violence—which Griswold investigates through individual lives rather than caricatures or abstractions.” New York Times Book Review

“An American poet and experienced journalist, the author brings to her book a sharp eye for telling details and a keen sense of place.” Washington Post

“Far more than a travelogue, her book is a richly textured fugue that dramatizes the dizzying interplay between notions—faith, morality, identity—and nations…Given our world today, Griswold’s book is as timely as ever.’” Los Angeles Times

“A compelling portrait of embattled human communities yearning for more-than-human succor.” Booklist (starred review)

“Though not a scholar of Islam, Griswold has a profound grasp of the misinterpretation and manipulation of Islam…Always maintaining a journalist’s objective view, Griswold, a published poet, nevertheless enchants the reader with her lush, flowing prose.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Griswold keenly investigates how the global clash of religions especially takes its toll on women and children. She visits religious leaders on both sides and debates finer points of their arguments. An important ongoing venture in the West’s attempts to understand the conflicts of this region.” Kirkus Reviews

Awards

  • Publishers Weekly Best Book
  • New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books
  • J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize
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