The winner of the prestigious 2001 Robinson Book Prize for excellence in Communication Studies, now significantly updated to take into consideration the shocking events of September 11 and its world-wide effects. In the aftermath of September 11, Islam fast became the world's most talked about and misunderstood religion. As violence and religious fervour became almost inseparable in the Western media, Muslims the world over struggled to defend their culture and religion against a racist onslaught of governmental and public assumptions. Here, exploring the great lack of historical and cultural understanding in the mass media today, ISLAMIC PERIL offers a comprehensive and insightful study of media coverage of world conflicts involving Muslims, allowing the reader to draw informed but disturbing conclusions about the effect of such coverage on popular feeling and world politics.