World Ignited

War. Torture. Humiliation. Exploitation. Fear. Futility. The daily news is bleak. And it's not reserved to just one corner of the globe. World wide we are bombarded with graphic, emotionally-laden examples of inhumanity. These challenges to peace and freedom have become so commonplace that public and government responses are sedate or self-righteous. Meanwhile in more malevolent countries, manipulative politicians and sadistic terrorists have become skilled at exploiting this state of affairs. And we ignore it at our own peril. A World Ignited is about the surge of hatred that has swept the world in the last decade, its myriad causes, its toll in lives and human misery. This condition is amplified by modern communications technology, especially television and the Internet, and made more lethal by modern weaponry, including assault rifles and rocket launchers, and unprecedented tactics that strive for mass death and anguish. Anger is fed by economic disparities, religious and cultural wars that go back centuries, and deep-seated feelings of defeat and humiliation. The book takes aim at the Bush administration for its penchant for provocative and unilateral policies that have inspired unprecedented waves of anti-Americanism, but it also breaks new ground on both Bush's unsung role in combating worldwide anti-Semitism, and the role of the United States as the fount of hate on the Internet. The authors conclude this important and timely book in a positive manner with a look at the politics of hope and what can be done to halt, and even reverse, this cacophony of hate.

Martin Tolchin capped a forty-year career at The New York Times, where he reported on Congress and politics, by becoming founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of The Hill newspaper. He now serves as senior editor and publisher at Allbritton Communications. Susan J. Tolchin is professor of public policy at George Mason University and the author of The Angry American: How Voter Rage is Changing the Nation (1996 and 1998). Together the Tolchins have written six previous books, including Glass Houses: Congressional Ethics and the Politics of Venom (2001) and Selling Our Security: The Erosion of America's Assets (1992).