In this ground-breaking exploration of the roots of the conflict between the US and the Muslim World, LeVine argues that the notion that most Muslims hate the US and the West is a fabrication used to help fundamentalists on both sides to maintain political, economic or cultural power. Offering a critique of those central to the branding of Islam as a source of violence and backward-thinking, LeVine contetst the apread of what he calles an Axis of Arrogance and Ignorance by advocating an Axis of Empathy as the only strategy that can bring about a long-term solution.