Why They Don't Hate Us

Axis of People: Arguments Against Us and Them, a discussion about Why They Don't Hate Us with author Mark LeVine, Middle East historian and widely noted as "a leader of the new generation of scholars of the modern Middle East and Islam, Globalization, and Popular Culture, and an award winning musician who has performed with some of the greatest artists around the world."

“Mark LeVine proposes a different way of thinking about "us" and "them" in the Middle East: instead of seeing a "clash of civilizations," he calls for historical understanding and the creation of an 'axis of empathy.' This is a necessary and illuminating work.” — John Wiener, Professor of History, University of California, Irvine.

This book offers a groundbreaking exploration of the roots of the current conflict between the United States and the Muslim world. LeVine argues that the idea that most Muslims hate the United States or the West is a useful fabrication that helps fundamentalists on both sides to maintain political, economic or cultural power in their societies through the spread of what LeVine calls an Axis of Arrogance and Ignorance. He also offers a critique of the works of writers and others who have been crucial in the "branding of Islam" as a source of violence and backwardness in today’s world. Against such views, he advocates an Axis of Empathy as the only strategy that can bring about a long-term solution to the current situation.