The author describes his youthful crisis of faith and the search for belonging that gradually drew him into an American Islamic group that supported terrorist causes. I would have liked to read more about how and why his rejection of the violence and dishonesty in this group should have led to his conversion to a third religion, neither Islam nor the religion of his parents. But what he does describe is interesting. ( )

This might be the most poorly written book every published. The writer is a stupid, gullible wishy-washy moron, as is his family and his wife. The book is filled with "Little did I know what would soon happen" and "And I didn't know that would be the last time that..." which go absolutely nowhere. There is no payoff after threatening one for the entirety of the book. He gets one star for educating me about some interesting details about Islam, about which what I can I say that won't get a fatwa dumped on my head? How about this?: these people need to take a chill pill. I mean, Jesus.

The author, brought up by free-thinking Jewish parents describes his conversion to Islam and his gradual participation in the radical side of the religion. Originally, his conversion was partly because of a Muslim friend and their desire to promote a moderate version of Islam. However, after landing a job at a Muslim charity he finds his views challenged by the people he worked with. They were all very fundamentalist and over time he finds that their views are making more and more sense. A very interesting look at how easily a person can be influenced to abandon long held beliefs and be caught up in something he certainly didn't intend to. ( )

My Year Inside Radical Islam: a Memoir by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross recounts the experiences of a young American in search of faith. Following a college classmate into Islam led him to a job in an office of al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and a deep devotion to increasingly fundamentalist practice and precepts that eventually clashed with the rest of his life. Through law school, marriage, and conversion to Christianity, he had put his memories of that time behind him until al Haramain’s role in supporting terrorism came to My Year Inside Radical Islam: a Memoir by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross recounts the experiences of a young American in search of faith. Following a college
My Year Inside Radical Islam: a Memoir by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross recounts the experiences of a young American in search of faith. Following a college
classmate into Islam led him to a job in an office of al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and a deep devotion to increasingly fundamentalist practice and precepts that eventually clashed with the rest of his life. Through law school, marriage, and conversion to Christianity, he had put his memories of that time behind him until al Haramain’s role in supporting terrorism came to light after 9/11. ( )

It is what it says it is, but is also Christian propaganda.