While Europe Slept
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam is Destroying the West from Within is a 2006 book by Bruce Bawer. It was Bawer's second book dealing with the issue of religious fundamentalism, following his earlier Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity, a critique of fundamentalist Christianity published in 1998.
While Europe Slept argues that Europe's democratic traditions and open society face a growing demographic and cultural threat from Europe's Muslim immigrant communities, who according to Bawer reject Enlightenment values and resist integration. Bawer blames this trend primarily on an alleged "self-destructive passivity" among Europeans, whom he regards as "appeasing" essentially incompatible philosophies like radical Islam in the name of religious tolerance. Bawer compares this approach unfavorably with what he sees as a more robust American tradition which proudly asserts its values and expects immigrants to adopt them.
The book received mixed reviews, with some strongly supporting its arguments while others rejected or even ridiculed them. Some felt the book raised important questions but failed to adequately make its case.
The book received a 2006 nomination in the "Criticism" category from the National Book Critics Circle, a choice which was met with condemnation from two former members of the organization.
Book summary
While Europe Slept advances two central arguments: firstly, that Europe faces a growing cultural and demographic threat from its Muslim immigrant population; and secondly, that Europe's political and intellectual leadership is exacerbating the threat by failing to encourage immigrants to fully integrate into the wider society. Bawer's argument is summarized by one of the book's reviewers thus:
European governments subscribe to the worst kind of political correctness, Bawer writes. From Norway to Italy, governments shower immigrants with benefits, yet corral them into ghettos, prevent them from becoming real citizens and turn a blind eye to Muslim attacks on women, Jews and gays, he says. Bawer hints at a coming cataclysm. "Immigrants to Europe bring with them many tribal customs that are flagrantly inconsistent with a Western understanding of human rights", he writes. "These customs represent flashpoints of latent or potential conflict between the Muslim immigrant communities and their host societies."
Bawer blames the problem not only on Muslims, but on what he implies is a latent bigotry amongst Europeans, which leads them to marginalize and isolate immigrant communities in the name of multiculturalism. He compares this approach unfavorably with what he sees as the American "melting pot" tradition, in which immigrants are expected to adopt American values and fully integrate into the wider society.
Due to what he asserts is a rapidly growing Muslim demographic, Bawer foresees "a long twilight of Balkanization with Europe divided into warring pockets of Muslims and non-Muslims." Bawer warns that without a change of direction, Europe may eventually face a stark choice between "cultural surrender or full-fledged civil war."
Bawer also believes that anti-Americanism has led Europe to reject America's hard line on Islamic extremism and tolerate dangerous pockets of radical Islam in its midst:
"In the end, Europe's enemy is not Islam, or even radical Islam. Europe's enemy is itself—its self-destructive passivity, its softness toward tyranny, its reflexive inclination to appease, and its uncomprehending distaste for America's pride, courage, and resolve in the face of a deadly foe."
