Reddit reviews American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right

Bart Ehrman - Jesus Interrupted (2010)

In this deliciously satisfying book, the author, a New Testament scholar, carefully reviews and assesses the New Testament with a detailed and extremely thorough analysis of the figure we call Jesus. This is not a rant, not an attack on Christianity, this is an objective and critical analysis of the New Testament, showing how the entire Jesus myth and indeed, all of Christianity is a purposely-designed fabrication rife with contradictions, inaccuracies, and sometimes outright falsehoods.

John Loftus - Why I Became an Atheist (2008)

If you want a one-stop total critique of Christianity, this is the book you're looking for. The author is a former Christian apologist turned extremely angry and prolific atheist. In this book Loftus attacks the full span of Christianity, addressing the philosophical arguments against theism, the historical incompatibilities and inaccuracies of the Bible, and the contradictions between creationism and modern science, and throughout it all is an undercurrent of personal experience as Loftus explains his own deconversion from devout evangelicalism to enraged atheist.

Concerning atheism.

These are for the people going "Well, I'm an atheist. Now what?" There's more to atheism than eating babies and posting fake facebook conversations on r/atheism. There's much more truth, beauty, and value in a universe without a celestial supervisor, where humans are free to make our own purposes and dictate our own paths. Thinking for yourself and recognizing the natural wonder of the universe is far greater than the false consolation any religion can provide you. These books show how.

Michael Martin - Atheism: A Philosophical Justification (1989)

In this book, Martin attempts a two-pronged defense of atheism: first by attacking theistic arguments regarding the implausibility of morality and purpose without God, second by defending against attacks specifically on atheism. In such a manner he makes a strong case for both negative and positive atheism. Though extremely dated, this book is a classic and a must-read for any atheist.

Erik J. Wielenberg - Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe (2005)

In this book, Wielenberg advances a naturalist philosophy and addresses the problem of nontheistic morality as weakly espoused by the likes of Dostoevsky and C.S. Lewis. First he challenges the claims of theistic morality, next he advances naturalistic ethics and displays how theological justification is unnecessary for a good and moral life. Concepts such as intrinsic morality, inherent human tendencies such as charity and altruism, and the idea of moral obligations are all addressed.

Richard Carrier - Sense and Goodness Without God (2005)

In this book, Richard Carrier, perhaps most well-known as one of the major modern debunkers of the Jesus myth, continues the trend of expanding metaphysical naturalism, but this is a more complex and thorough work covering the full spectrum of a developed worldview, addressing nearly every topic beyond just morality, and presents a complete philosophical outlook on life that is easy to comprehend and evaluate. A solid starting point for the newly atheist.

My personal picks.

Now, since this is my list after all, and after typing up all of that, I think I've earned the right to make my own recommendations. These are books that I think people should read that don't necessarily have anything to do with atheism.

Markos Moulitsas - American Taliban (2010)

This book reads like a collection of loosely-related blog entries, some of them written by angry teenagers, and Moulitsas himself is no philosopher or professor, but is still an important read for those of you who haven't been paying attention. In this book, the founder of Daily Kos draws the extremely obvious and transparent similarities between the religious right of America, and the Islamofascists across the pond, and displays how modern conservatism has largely been hijacked and/or replaced by a complex political machine intent on maintaining the power of a small group of white, male, Christian elite.

Chris Hedges - American Fascists (2007)

Okay, time for a more sophisticated take on the issue than Daily Kos stuff. Those of you who plan on staying and fighting in the US rather than simply getting the fuck out while you still can need this book. With a critical and objective eye, Hedges displays the dark and tumultuous underbelly of America and shows how an extremely powerful and well-organized coalition of dominionists is slowly taking over the country and seeking to transform it into a theocratic state. Those of you who are moderate Christians and similarly despise the lunatic fringe of Christians should also read this book. Hedges analyzes this Christian Right movement, allied with totalitarianism and a denial of reality, that has declared a jihad (or a "teahad", if you're a Tea Partier) on secularism and even on Christianity itself, utilizing religion for its darkest and most sinister purpose - committing cruelty and intolerance upon others in the name of divine supervision.

CJ Werleman - God Hates You, Hate Him Back (2009)

This is one of my favorite books and is a great book to unwind with after a critical look at Christianity. The biggest problem with the Bible is not the contradictions, the outright falsehoods, or even the blatantly made-up and ridiculous bullshit about magic and miracles and supernatural nonsense - it's the fact that, taking it all at face value, the God described in the Bible is the single most despicable and terrifying fictional villain ever imagined by humanity. This is a character that seems to actively despise mankind, and in this book, Werleman shows why with a hilarious and thorough analysis of the Bible. This book reads like Monty Python and is just as funny - not meant to be taken seriously of course unless you're a Biblical literalist, but still a great read.


Well, that's all I got. This list took about half a day to compile and is itself also woefully inadequate, there's quite a bit of books I haven't gotten around to reading yet. But, it should be much more sufficient than the current r/atheism reading lists and I've done my best to include the most recent works. If you have any books to add that you feel are noteworthy, please feel free to post them. I hope this list can help many people in their understanding of philosophy and atheism.

relevant if you're interested and feel like raging along with a short book: http://www.amazon.com/American-Taliban-Power-Jihadists-Radical/dp/1936227029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318835827&sr=8-1

This has been used by some members of the left for awhile now. There is even a book of that name.

for her birthday give her this book

You should check out Markos Moulitsas' American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right (http://www.amazon.com/American-Taliban-Power-Jihadists-Radical/dp/1936227029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299729068&sr=8-1). The entire premise is how closely the far Right are like the Islamic extremists, including the want for a theocracy.

> Ironically fundamentalist Islam seems to be pretty similar, but nobody seems to have noticed the parallels yet

On the contrary, enough people have noticed to have coined a common phrase to describe it, and others to write books about it.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Taliban-Power-Jihadists-Radical/dp/1936227029

Ah, but they Want to do similarly heinous things...and talk about such things all the time...and some elements actually Do act out their ultra-violent "religious" fantasies...

Check out some of the most disturbing details here, if you can stand it:

http://dogemperor.dailykos.com/

BTW, there's also a book by Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas, titled "The American Taliban", which offers further incisive analysis:

http://www.amazon.com/American-Taliban-Power-Jihadists-Radical/dp/1936227029

Another important facet to this...meme, is the very close supportive relationship between the CIA and Taliban/AlQuaida elements, historically, in sowing chaos on the flanks of Russia and the oil fields...due at least in part, I would suggest, to glaring similarities in world-view.

Both CIA and the Taliban resented Russian incursion into the region, which outlawed the Burkha, allowed girls to go to school, women to enjoy equal rights, etc. and generally sought to modernize the country, rather than to isolate it and perpetuate a throwback feudal warlord society.

> No one would ever compare that to the taliban,

>“We all agree with the Taliban.”—Rush Limbaugh, October 9, 2009

It led to this book:
https://www.amazon.com/American-Taliban-Power-Jihadists-Radical/dp/1936227029

Go read something, kid.

>This is one of the dumbest comments I've ever read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast

You might want to research some political history before you start talking out of your ass. Or read books. Lots of books. Here are some.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Fascists
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_America:_Letter_of_Warning_to_a_Young_Patriot
http://www.amazon.ca/American-Taliban-Power-Jihadists-Radical/dp/1936227029

I don't want yankee hordes pouring north over the border trying to escape to a place with a better economy. Please fix your political culture, americans. I really want to see a prosperous, thriving, progressive america based on real capitalism that does not waste human resources and is based on ecocapitalist principles. Unfortunately, the voters of america keep breaking my heart. So much wasted potential profits and human beings. The market is made of people, ultimately, and until the united states realizes that you need to invest in human beings, it will always lag behind politically modern countries in quality of life until voters stop approving this teabagger randian bullshit.