White Muslim From L A to New York to Jihad

In the wake of 9/11, it's a perverse and puzzling phenomenon: A growing number of young, middle-class, white men from the American suburbs are embracing militant Islam. John Walker Lindh, the young Californian captured in Afghanistan fighting with the Taliban, is only the most extreme example of something that is becoming surprisingly widespread.

In a riveting investigation that started as a controversial cover story for L.A. Weekly, award-winning journalist Brendan Bernhard charts the journey of one such young man. "Charles"is a handsome young slacker from the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance who-inspired by the 9/11 tragedy itself-moves to New York City and starts wearing a white thobetunic, driving a cab, and studying an increasingly militant and intolerant brand of Sunniism.

Bernhard walks the streets of New York with the cheerful and forthcoming Charles and joins him in his cab while he observes the infidels. The writer accompanies the young acolyte to prayer meetings at both a packed Upper East Side mosque and a tiny storefront in Queens. He interviews Charles'friends and family and talks to his teachers.

But Charles isn't the whole story. Bernhard also attends conversion classes and talks to other equally surprising converts. He depicts a Friday night prayer meeting complete with fire and brimstone sermon and profiles the Imam. He talks to numerous experts-both from the academy and the government-and learns more about the psychological underpinnings of the movement, which is going on in Europe as well.

Do we have something to fear from this phenomenon? Bernhard's findings make this far more than a profile of one searching young man. It is a gripping study of a fascinating subculture that is growing daily.

Brendan Bernhardis a correspondent for L.A. Weekly. His journalism has won numerous awards, including a PEN Center USA Literary Journalism Award, as well as numerous honors from the Los Angeles Press Club and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies.

The first book to probe the conversion phenomenon

It seemed the height of perversity: In response to the horrific September 11th attacks, one young American decided to convert to Islam.

And when, by chance, reporter Brendan Bernhard came upon him leaning on his cab outside a storefront mosque on New Yorks Lower East Side, he was struck by the very sight: Charles was a handsome, blue-eyed Californian from the L.A. suburbs, dressed in an all-white tunic, with a big smile and charming manner... preaching a particularly severe form of Islam.

Intrigued, Bernhard plunged into the story. Were people like Charles, or like John Walker Lindh—the young Californian captured fighting with the Taliban—simply malcontents?

What Bernhard uncovered was more complex, surprising, and worldwide: a huge mosque on New Yorks Upper East Side, packed with thousands of people and more waiting to get in; an Australian would-be jihadist shocked to find himself having dinner with “that bloke on the telly,” Osama bin Laden; rising numbers of Hispanic converts; deepening unrest in the suburbs of London and Paris.

Interviewing other converts - a middle-aged Jewish professor, a trendy twenty-something in Tribeca - as well as charismatic imams, security experts, and more, Bernhards WHITE MUSLIM probes this unexpected subculture in a penetrating investigation that asks: Is this something to fear?

BRENDAN BERNHARD is a staff writer for LA Weekly who has also written for the New York Times, Spin, Buzz, Gear, and the New York Sun. He has been a finalist for a PEN West Journalism Award, and has won numerous awards from the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. He lives in New York City.