is that most Islamic countries remainnbarbaric and backward in the middle ofnthe 20th century. And, contrary tonpopular enlightened sentiment (bestndemonstrated by the United Nations),nthis has not been caused by the West.nIn fact, anyone with a shred of intellectualnhonesty realizes that whatever dengree of modern civilization has been attainednin these countries has come fromnoutside.nThe meager development of acquirednaspects of civilized society isndue, almost exclusively, to the resistancenof Islam. Over and over, Naipaulndemonstrates that the revolutionaries,nas well as the Shah’s developing middlenclass, were dependent upon the Westneven for their ideas for revolution andnchange. Witness the numerous IslamicnIn the Mailnrevolutionaries who came to Americanto study. Even Khomeini spent his exilennot in any Muslim state, but in France.nFor all the talk about the “SatanicnWest,” the revolutionaries requirenWestern learning—and then rationalizentheir use of it:nThere was a point in this. The West,nwhich had provided Mohammed withnacademic learning, was open to thencriticism it had trained him in. Islam,nwhich had riot provided this learning,nwhich provided only the restoringnfaith, was exempt.nThe result is an intellectual and culturalnabyss.nIt is not enough to counter that thesencountries were backward to begin with.nOther nations have accomplished more.nEven within the Islamic nations, it isnAppalachian Maryland and the World edited by Paul R. LaChance; UniversitynPress of America; Washington, D.C. A collection of papers presented at an InternationalnEducation Symposium held at Frostburg State College considering the challenges andnpossibilities of global approaches to liberal-arts education.nEncyclopedia of Entrepreneurship edited by Calvin A. Kent, Donald L. Sexton andnKarl H. Vesper; Prentice-Hall; Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. A summary of thencurrent practices and existing research about entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship.nUnderstanding the Modern Predicament by Dwight D. Murphey; University Pressnof America; Washington, D.C. An analysis of modern civilization which maintains thatnsociety has been shaped by an existential crisis compounded by several elements (the firstnof four volumes).nThe Place of Poetry: Two Centuries of an Art in Crisis by Christopher Clausen;nUniversity Press of Kentucky; Lexington, Kentucky. A study of the current culturalnstatus of poetry in the English-speaking world and reasons for its decline.nThe Oil Muddle: Control vs. Competition by James B. Ramsey; Ethics and PublicnPolicy Center; Washington, D.C. A nontechnical consideration of the oil industrynfrom the standpoint of an economist.nSelected Media Comments on The Hoover Institution: September ’80-July ’81nedited by George Marotta; The Hoover Institution; Stanford, California. Reprintsnof articles from newspapers across the country about The Hoover Institution.nA Conversation tvith Michael Novak and Richard Schifter: Human Rights and thenUnited Nations; American Enterprise Institute; Washington, D.C. Comments,nquestions and answers from Novak and Schifter as they discuss their roles as U.S. representativenand alternate representative to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.nThe Hoover Institution Report 1981; The Hoover Institution; Stanford, California.nA summary of the 1981 activities of the Hoover Institution.n3()inChronicles of Cttlturennnthe non-Muslims—the Chinese in Malaysia,nthe Hindus in India and, yearsnago, the Jews in the Ottoman Empiren—who have supplied the impetus fornprogress. The resistance to advancenment is, if not a spiritual component ofnthe faith, at least its most consistentnpractical characteristic, inseparablenfrom the practice of the religion. Muslimnleaders who have attempted to modernizentheir countries have not farednwell. Mr. Bhutto, Pakistan’s onlynelected prime minister, was arrestednand hanged. The Shah was deposed bynstudents and mullahs who shoutedn”Death to Carter” one day and “Deathnto Bani Sadr” the next. Like Khomeini,nBani Sadr had to look to France fornsafety. Lastly, Anwar Sadat, an outcastnin the Muslim world for establishing anrelationship with Israel, was assassinatednfor his contributions to worldnpeace and progress in the Middle East.nIn one sense, Sadat was the threatnto Islamic unity that his enemies madenhim out to be, but for reasons they mostnlikely would not understand. The creationnof the state of Israel, which mostnMuslims refuse to recognize, was antremendous impetus to Arab unity—itngave them a scapegoat, a common denominatornfor hatred, to blame for everynmisfortune. Israel’s dramatic conqueringnof an essentially barren land and itsndecisive foreign policy provide starkncontrast to the poverty and chaos thatncharacterize its Arab neighbors. WithoutnIsrael to hate and denounce, the Islamicncountries would have to returnnto their centuries-old practice of cuttingneach other’s throats, and OPECnwould not even be conceivable.nIslam’s failure to grasp the very rudimentsnof civilization is the reason thesennations remain intellectually and sociallynimpoverished in spite of the oil wealthnmany enjoy. Oil gives only the illusionnof wealth because it is not the result ofna healthy and vigorous economy, butnof luck. It is as though one were to handna child a million dollars: instead of buildingnupon it the child would undoubtedlynsquander it on ostentatious playthings.n