an important book
To say that the other story threads were only tangentially related was, I think, to miss the point of the book. Suskind uses personal stories to show how we as humans tend toward clannishness and distrust of those that are different, while weaving in historical narratives that show the age old struggle between reason and faith, and how cultures seem to be gravitating toward extremism and fundamentalism, while denying reason and argument. Whether we are talking about why we went to war in Iraq or how we might prevent terrorists from acquiring a nuclear weapon, this is the context we must place these stories. Granted, the interweaving of these very different narratives can be at times disjointed, but I think this is an important book. It does, however, require the reader to think about how the different elements are related... that's the point.
