Kirkus Discoveries (May 7, 2008) for my book “The Modernization of Islam and the Creation of a Multipolar World Order” was a bogus review as the reviewer did not read the entire book at all (Kirkus Discoveries is now known as Kirkus Indie). Please click here to read this review:
The review was written by a conservative/Republican party member – please read his comments on Bush. There were several false statements in this review. I pointed out false statements in review to the Kirkus Discoveries’staff, but they did not send the book for a second review. I was misled by the staff of Booksurge Publications in accepting this review as they told me that there were some positive points which I could write on back cover. This book was my first book and hence I committed this mistake, i.e. in accepting this bogus review.
False statements in review:
(1) Review - “…Even sympathetic readers may wish Kumar would provide clear reasoning for what he calls President George W. Bush’s incompetence, rather than having it stated as incontrovertible truth….”
My comments: This statement is completely wrong as I have written 5 pages (pp. 278-282) to show why President George W. Bush was incompetent to be a president. Please click here to see those five pages. (Five pdf pages from the book are in a MS Word file).
(2) Review – “…The author’s predictions that the United States’ economy will collapse and that there will be a rise in Islamic militancy seem prescient in light of recent events….”
My comments: Based on the analysis of the socio-economic situation in the Islamic countries, I predicted the global rise of Islamic militancy and also its final outcome in my 1995 article (the article is at my blog), i.e. more than a decade before the “recent events” (i.e. global rise of Islamic militancy). I mentioned about my 1995 article and quoted some paragraphs from this article in this book at several places (for an example on pp. 3-4). It shows how biased and ignorant the reviewer was; he or she had not even read my book properly!
In Chapter 6 (“The Collapse of the American Economy), I used 18 tables and 8 graphs / charts to discuss the history of global economy in last 200 years and then I showed why the American economy would collapse in very near future. This chapter has 54 pages, 60 end notes/references. Only a biased person will write a sentence like the above, i.e. “… in the light of recent events...” My explanation of last 200 years of global economy can not be compared with some “recent” events, events in 2007-8.
Based on the analysis of last two hundred years of global economy, I predicted Great Depression in the US, leading to collapse of its economy similar to the collapse of Russian economy in 1990s. I finished this chapter in early 2007 and at that time, no body was predicting any severe downturn in the American economy. But now even economists like Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winner in economics, accept that American economy is in the early stages of Depression.
It is worth noting that the review was written in May 2008 when the Islamic militancy in Iraq temporarily reduced after the majority of Sunnis had been driven out from Baghdad by Shiites and the US government had started paying Sunni militants. After the withdrawal of US troops and stoppage of payments to Sunni militants, Islamic militancy in Iraq is increasing day by day. Also now there is no way that the US army can control the Islamic militancy in Afghanistan or Pakistan.
When Samuel Huntington published his theory of “Clash of Civilization,” in 1993, there was no evidence of clash between or among civilizations. My theory of “Modernization of Islam” or Huntington’ theory (or any theory in international affairs) is judged over several decades. Only a biased person will write the sentence which reviewer has written.
(3) Review: “…The final chapter abandons those arguments altogether to advocate a utopian reorganization of global society, in which capitalism and democracy would be replaced with localized production centers.”
My comments: Yes I have written that capitalism is going to fail and I have explained a socio-economic theory called Prout which can replace capitalism. But no where in book, I have written that democracy would be replaced with localized production centers. I have clearly written that democracy is the best “-cracy” among all “-cracies,” but it has deficiencies.
I have explained about these deficiencies in several pages in Chapter 8 (“Capitalism, Prout and Deficiencies in Democracy” – pp. 275-327).
Like communism (which failed in 1991), the present form of democracy, based on the universal adult franchise, is a recent phenomenon. Women lacked voting rights in most countries, including the U.S., until the early 1900s. Women’s suffrage was granted in France only after World War II. Until the 1800s, voting rights in many Western democracies were limited to only those men who paid a certain amount in taxes.
Democracy in its present form is not truly successful anywhere, even in the U.S., the world’s richest nation, or in India, the world’s largest democracy. Almost 99 percent of Indian ministers, at both the state and central levels, would go to prison if corruption and other criminal charges were investigated impartially and vigorously in the same manner that the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI investigate crimes and corruption charges against American politicians. There is a progressive deterioration in the political system in India, with no hope of any improvement. Although generally American politicians avoid taking bribes for personal gain, they accept thousands of dollars in donations from big corporations and the ultra-wealthy for their election campaigns. In return, their benefactors receive millions, if not billions, of dollars in the form of budget outlays and other government provisions like tax breaks and no-bid contracts. The American political system has forced politicians to become corrupt in this way, which can better be described as systemic rather than the personal form it takes in some developing countries. Due to propaganda from media like Fox News, more than half of Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 attacks and had WMDs (Weapon of Mass Destruction) despite so many contrary Congressional and intelligence reports. This raises a big question mark on what kind of politicians, these brain-washed Americans are voting for, in elections.
In this book, I have also explained how we can get rid of these deficiencies in democracy. Please click here to see some pages from this chapter. (pdf pages from the book are in a MS Word file).
(4) Review: “…Kumar bases his central premise, that the world’s Muslim nations will eventually embrace secular governance, on a shaky foundation that he tries to shore up by using overly declarative statements. These make his work sound more like a prophecy than an academic treatise.”
My comments: Please read my article “Modernization of Islam” (which is from this book) on this website and then decide for yourself. Any futuristic theory in political science (international affairs) is a prophecy and not exact science as we can not describe these events by exact mathematical equations. When Samuel Huntington published his theory (“Clash of Civilizations”) in 1993, there was no evidence of clash of civilization. Even right now there is no evidence of clash of civilizations. We have global-rise of Islamic militancy and not the clash of Islamic civilization with any other civilization. Therefore this statement by the reviewer shows how biased he was.
Please click here to see the Kirkus Discoveries’s original review (you may have to click on it to enlarge it) in which the reviewer had written several more facts which were not there in book at all. I pointed about bogus facts to the Kirkus Discoveries staff, but they declined for a second review. Here are two bogus facts which reviewer agreed to delete/modify:
(1) Review: “…Iraq war will lead to U.S. economic collapse…”
My comments: No where in book I claimed that the Iraq war would lead to a collapse in the U.S. economy. The reviewer created this fact on his own in order to trash my book.
(2) Review: “…his claims that demand for fossil fuel will drop and that extremists will transfer power to democratically-elected secularists are unconvincing.”
My comments: No where in my book I claimed that extremists will transfer power to democratically-elected secularists.
I wrote about the drop in the demand of fossil fuel at one place only in my book. In paragraph 3 on page 224 in Chapter 6 ("The Collapse of The American Economy"), I wrote, "If the US economy collapses, economic conditions in China and other East Asian nations will become similar to those of the former Soviet Union. Per capita income plummeted and the Russian GDP fell by 45 percent between 1990 and 1998. Once the Soviet Union collapsed, people started using age-old barter system as there was no central authority to coordinate. Service sector jobs in India and other nations will have a similar fate. Demand for commodities like crude oil and minerals will also plummet, causing the economics of countries like Australia, Russia, Canada, and Venezuela, which rely significantly on these commodities, to collapse."
Please click here to see the above-mentioned paragraph on page 224. (pdf page from the book is in a MS Word file). It is worth noting that due to the 1997 East Asian financial crisis, the crude oil prices plummeted, leading to the collapse of Russia's currency. Hence reviewer's comment about the drop in the demand of fossil fuel was a bogus comment.
