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Murder in Amsterdam
Ian Buruma
(Atlantic Books)
‘Bleakly brilliant. Buruma is a hugely talented and
thoughtful writer.’ Michael Burleigh, Sunday Telegraph
“It was a murder that shook a nation. In November
2004, an angry young Muslim, Mohammed Bouyeri, shot and killed
the provocative Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh. The killer
had objected to a film that van Gogh had made with the Dutch
politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali – an outspoken critic of
Islamic fundamentalism. Chillingly, after Bouyeri shot
van Gogh, he calmly stood over the body and cut his throat
with a curved machete, as if performing a ritual sacrifice.
The murder horrified quiet, tolerant, prosperous Holland
and sent shock waves around the world. Shortly after
the murder, the writer and academic Ian Buruma returned to
his homeland to try to make sense of Van Gogh’s death
and to see whether any larger meanings should - and shouldn't
- be drawn from this terrible episode. He concludes
that ‘The story is not over. What happened in
this small corner of northwestern Europe could happen anywhere,
as long as young men and women feel that death is their only
way home.’
Ian Buruma is currently
Luce Professor at Bard College, New York. His previous books
include Voltaire’s Coconuts, The Missionary
and the Libertine, The Wages of Guilt and God’s
Dust. His most recent book, Occidentalism,
written with Avishai Margalit, was published by Atlantic
Books in 2004.
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