Radical - Maajid Nawaz

Maajid Nawaz spent his teenage years listening to American hip-hop and
learning about the radical Islamist movement spreading throughout Europe
and Asia in the 1980s and 90s. At 16, he was already a ranking member
in Hizb ut-Tahrir, a London-based Islamist group. He quickly rose
through the ranks to become a top recruiter, a charismatic spokesman for
the cause of uniting Islam's political power across the world. Nawaz
was setting up satellite groups in Pakistan, Denmark, and Egypt when he
was rounded up in the aftermath of 9/11 along with many other radical
Muslims. He was sent to an Egyptian prison where he was,
fortuitously, jailed along with the assassins of Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat. The 20 years in prison had changed the assassins' views on
Islam and violence; Maajid went into prison preaching to them about the
Islamist cause, but the lessons ended up going the other way. He came
out of prison four years later completely changed, convinced that his
entire belief system had been wrong, and determined to do something
about it. He met with activists and heads of state, built a network,
and started a foundation, Quilliam, funded by the British government,
to combat the rising Islamist tide in Europe and elsewhere, using his intimate knowledge of
recruitment tactics in order to reverse extremism and persuade Muslims
that the 'narrative' used to recruit them (that the West is evil and the
cause of all of Muslim suffering), is false. Radical, first
published in the UK, is a fascinating and important look into one man's
journey out of extremism and into something else entirely.This U.S. edition contains a "Preface for US readers" and a new, updated epilogue.