No one who has flirted with or been puzzled by post-modernism, or wondered about the meaning of resurgent Islam should fail to read this tour de force which brings the two so surprisingly and successfully together. -Bryan Wilson, Oxford University The book is a wonderful, scorching, brusque attack on post-modernist relativism and a convincing defense of Gellner's kind of secular rationalism...a wonderfully lucid book.. - James Woods, The Guardian Gellner's scholarship is first-rate and his argument pursued with ruthless logic. What is best about Gellner's slim volume, apart from his very learned style and biting wit, is his recognition of the appeal of religious fundamentalism not to just the masses but to intelligent and educated people as well. - Middle East Policy