cover image The Day of Islam: The Annihilation of America and the Western World

The Day of Islam: The Annihilation of America and the Western World

Paul L. Williams. Prometheus Books, $26.98 (288pp) ISBN 978-1-59102-508-5

Islamic Jihadists have replaced the Soviets in the American nightmare of nuclear annihilation, and journalist/author Williams is back to report that such a scenario is closer at hand than one (or one's government) might think. Picking up where his last few titles left off (2006's Dunces of Doomsday, '05's The Al Qaeda Connection, '04's Osama's Revenge), Williams reveals the underlying narrative of news updates on terrorist activity, tying isolated acts to bin Laden's overall strategy to carry out an ""American Hiroshima."" Among profiles of purported Al Qaeda supporters (including Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Brazil's Lula de Silva), Williams examines interesting items like bin Laden's alleged location(a small village in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier); Al Qaeda's purchase of a nuclear ""suitcase bomb,"" a Soviet leftover; and the role of Pakistan's Interservice Intelligence in the beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl (allegedly investigating nuclear trafficking between Al Qaeda and a Pakistani scientist). Though absorbing, Williams' approach reduces the proponents of Islamic jihad to violent, irrational stereotypes rather than exploring their worldview. A noteworthy guide to the workings of Islamic terrorism, this volume's colorful style obscures its serious intent.