“Aims to offer a refreshing and rigorous sociological analysis of the worldwide resurgence of Islam, focusing on ‘the underlying social processes produced by the expanding figurational relations of interdependent people within Muslim societies and between nation-states’. This aim is achieved with style. Lucidly and confidently written, this book uses sociological perspectives to challenge as well as improve current understanding of, and explanation for,the growth of the Islamic faith and activism across the world, significantly since 9/11.” British Journal of Sociology “While the sociology of Islam flourished in the early twentieth century, recent contributions to the sociology of 'resurgent Islam' have been modest. Sutton and Vertigans have therefore made an important contribution towards bringing sociology back in. Their highly readable account of Islam draws on sociological studies of suicide, the civilising process, globalization theory, clash of civilisations thesis, secularisation theory and the analysis of the state. The result is a comprehensive theoretical framework that is sociological, scholarly and stimulating.” Bryan S. Turner, National University of Singapore