The Clash

While America is focused on religious militancy and terrorism in the Middle East…

Formed in London in 1976 by Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, and Paul Simonon at the outset of that city’s punk rock boom, The Clash went on to outlast their peers and create some of the most influential albums in rock ’n’ roll—not just punk—even breaching the mainstream in 1982 and earning the title “The Only Band That Matters” along the way. In their eight-year career, The Clash offered six CBS Records studio releases, including one double and one triple LP, and increasingly melded influences ranging from rockabilly to ska, reggae, and even hip-hop into their sound.

Much of the Middle East and North Africa still appears to be in a transitional period set in motion by the 2011 Arab uprisings, and the political trajectory of the region remains difficult to grasp. In The Clash of Values, Mansoor Moaddel provides groundbreaking empirical data to demonstrate how the collision between Islamic fundamentalism and liberal nationalism explains the region's present and will determine its future.