Reddit reviews Terrorism and 9/11: A Reader

Anyone interested in the subject may enjoy this book it was a text used in my college Islamic studies class. It has an interesting essay on the "clash of civilizations" narrative so often cited in public discourse and the book also has transcripts of early interviews with Bin Laden.

I think you're on the right track but religion is a big part of this too that goes way way back, and colonialism carving up these areas is also at play.

There's an essay in this reader called 'Clash of Civilizations' that I'd highly recommend to you. It argues that middle east and western cultures are just way too oppositional to ever blend properly and sheer disconnect and co-hate will eventually lead to war. It was written in 1996.

I think another aspect is there's a constantly tension, power struggle and abuse between rulers using religion to inspire people to support their government and then the government being torn down by even more religious radicals and then the flip. Secular radicals tearing down overly religious governments.

Last thing I'd like to throw in is the problem you have when societies are modernized to quickly. England and the US were in the middle of the industrial revolution and their cultures had time to adapt to living in a capitalistic industrial society. Not so with Africa, and the middle east. They were quickly thrown into capitalism when raw materials were discovered. And when western powers discover raw materials in your country they don't take it nicely and help you adapt. They exploit. Naomi Kline talks about this in 'Shock Doctrine.' Even when western power are less exploitative these tribal societies struggle enormously with all the new wealth because they haven't adapted to living with modernity. We're seeing the fallout of other society going what we in the west have already gone through (progressivism, building a safety net, building constitutions, etc.)

There are a lot of great documentaries on Saudi Arabia that shed a lot of light on the middle east in general that might be helpful to your understanding as well. Here's one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECL5l1v9sQY

edit 1.

Here are two more videos.

I know Vox.com is very liberal but their graphic design skill really helps to explain some of the history.

Israel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYZjOuUnlU

Syria's Civil War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFpanWNgfQY

edit 2.

If you wan't a more comedic take on the whole situation I'd recommend this:

https://vimeo.com/50531435

And this is the viewers guide