Feeling Betrayed The Roots of Muslim Anger at America By Steven Kull (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2011. 237 pages.)

Abstract

Steven Kull’s Feeling Betrayed is a great addition to the literature on what
motivated the 9/11 attacks. His critical analysis is based upon hundreds of interviews
conducted by international polling agencies in Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan,
Turkey, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. Participants
were Sunni and Shi‘i, men and women, as well as Islamists, modernists, and
secularists. The nine-chapter book contains charts designed to facilitate reader
comprehension of the data presented. Among his findings are the following:
(1) Muslims perceive the United States as dominant, exploitive, oppressive,
and undermining of their values and cultures; (2) Washington talks about promoting
democracy in the Muslim world but supports military regimes and
monarchies; (3) it undercuts democracy and social justice by telling Arab leaders
what to do; and (4) it does not live up to its ideal values. Unfortunately, he
bases his very frequent sweeping generalizations (viz., “Muslims in …. say”)
on the words of a minute fraction of the global Muslim population. In fact,
many other polls reveal that millions of Muslims hold a positive image of the
United States ...