The Tenth Parallel

English language

Published Dec. 20, 2010 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

ISBN:: 978-1-4299-7966-5

(1 review)

The tenth parallel—the line of latitude seven hundred miles north of the equator—is a geographical and ideological front line where Christianity and Islam collide. More than half of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims live along the tenth parallel; so do sixty percent of the world's 2 billion Christians. Here, in the buzzing megacities and swarming jungles of Africa and Asia, is where the two religions meet; their encounter is shaping the future of each faith, and of whole societies as well.

An award-winning investigative journalist and poet, Eliza Griswold has spent the past seven years traveling between the equator and the tenth parallel: in Nigeria, the Sudan, and Somalia, and in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The stories she tells in The Tenth Parallel show us that religious conflicts are also conflicts about land, water, oil, and other natural resources, and that local and tribal issues are often shaped by …

The tenth parallel—the line of latitude seven hundred miles north of the equator—is a geographical and ideological front line where Christianity and Islam collide. More than half of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims live along the tenth parallel; so do sixty percent of the world's 2 billion Christians. Here, in the buzzing megacities and swarming jungles of Africa and Asia, is where the two religions meet; their encounter is shaping the future of each faith, and of whole societies as well.

An award-winning investigative journalist and poet, Eliza Griswold has spent the past seven years traveling between the equator and the tenth parallel: in Nigeria, the Sudan, and Somalia, and in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The stories she tells in The Tenth Parallel show us that religious conflicts are also conflicts about land, water, oil, and other natural resources, and that local and tribal issues are often shaped by religious ideas. Above all, she makes clear that, for the people she writes about, one's sense of God is shaped by one's place on earth; along the tenth parallel, faith is geographic and demographic.

An urgent examination of the relationship between faith and worldly power, The Tenth Parallel is an essential work about the conflicts over religion, nationhood and natural resources that will remake the world in the years to come.

6 editions

Sean Bala reviewed The Tenth Parallel by Eliza Griswold

Review of 'Tenth Parallel' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Out of the many books I've read concerning religion and international affairs over the past few years, "The Tenth Parallel" by Eliza Griswold is one of the strongest and most perceptive. Through an examination of five nations (Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines), Griswold book examines the way that religion is intertwined with political, economic, social, and environmental pressures along the Tenth Parallel across the Global South.

What make the book strong is that the book take a nuanced approach to religion and international affairs. Sometimes the cause of problems, but often a manifestation or symptom of other problems, Griswold shows the importance of religion in areas where a variety of resources are becoming scarce. Additionally, the book is quite well-written and the author, an established journalist, has a way of using stories to capture wonderful, symbolic stories and images. And the stories she uses are ones that …

Out of the many books I've read concerning religion and international affairs over the past few years, "The Tenth Parallel" by Eliza Griswold is one of the strongest and most perceptive. Through an examination of five nations (Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines), Griswold book examines the way that religion is intertwined with political, economic, social, and environmental pressures along the Tenth Parallel across the Global South.

What make the book strong is that the book take a nuanced approach to religion and international affairs. Sometimes the cause of problems, but often a manifestation or symptom of other problems, Griswold shows the importance of religion in areas where a variety of resources are becoming scarce. Additionally, the book is quite well-written and the author, an established journalist, has a way of using stories to capture wonderful, symbolic stories and images. And the stories she uses are ones that I've seen reappearing in other media, showing that she is completely plugged into the wider debate over religion and current affairs.

In my opinion, the second part of the book on Asia is stronger than the first about Africa. And the one big flaw of the book is that because it was written in 2010 it does not reflect the Arab Spring, the division of Sudan, the establishment of an increasingly stable Somali government, etc.... In any case, these missing things aside, I would say that if you really want to understand religion in contemporary society, this book is essential reading.

Subjects

Christianity and other religions, islam
Islam, relations, christianity