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Title: Not what I expected
Review: The book appears to be a collection of disparate lectures or essays loosely tied together to take advantage of the spike in Islamic interest due to terrorism. The book title is deceptive, as it is actually the title of a single chapter in the book, which refers to the 1855 battle over the Ayodha mosque site in India. Although the book does shed light on Bahraini, Saudi and Indian Shi'ite communities (only the Twelver sect, however) it never provides a strong sense of Shia "politics, culture and history" as implied in the title. There is some relevant information on Iranian, Iraqi and Lebanese Shi'ites, but not the level of detail I expected. You will learn something if you read this book, just understand going in that you will have to read another book if you want an understanding of modern Shi'ism. There has got to be a better organized, more focused and concise resource available.
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