Among the Believers | V. S. Naipaul

Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey | V. S. Naipaul

What happens when a Nobel laureate travels across four countries to examine the resurgence of fundamentalist Islam? V.S. Naipaul investigates firsthand.

The Nobel Prize-winning author gives us—on the basis of his own intensive seventeen month journey across the Asian continent—an unprecedented revelation of the Islamic world. • “A brilliant report…. A book of scathing inquiry and judgment, whose tragic power is being continually reinforced by current events” (Newsweek).

About the Book:

With all the narrative power and intellectual authority that have distinguished his earlier books and won him international acclaim (“There can hardly be a writer alive who surpasses him”—Irving Howe, The New York Times Book Review), Naipaul explores the life, the culture, the ferment inside the nations of Islam—in a book that combines the fascinations of the great works of travel literature with the insights of a uniquely sharp, original, and idiosyncratic political mind.

He takes us into four countries in the throes of “Islamization”—countries that, in their ardor to build new societies based entirely on the fundamental laws of Islam, have violently rejected the “materialism” of the technologically advanced nations that have long supported them.

He brings us close to the people of Islam—how they live and work, the role of faith in their lives, how they see their place in the modern world.

Frequently Asked Questions About Among the Believers:

• Q: Is this book an abstract academic study of theology or a personal travel narrative?
  A: It functions as a deeply immersive, narrative-driven work of investigative travel literature. Instead of parsing scriptural theory in a library, the author chronicles a grueling, seven-month physical journey across the Asian continent to observe how massive socio-political shifts alter everyday communities in real-time.
• Q: What specific historical era and geographical landscape are explored inside?
  A: The narrative acts as a direct, unvarnished eyewitness account captured immediately following the historic 1979 Iranian Revolution. Naipaul systematically travels through four prominent non-Arab nations undergoing intense fundamentalist transitions: Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
• Q: Does the author approach his subjects with a sympathetic or a critical viewpoint?
  A: Naipaul is widely recognized for his highly critical, unsparing, and fiercely independent intellectual perspective. He intentionally avoids sugarcoating his observations, actively contrasting the intense spiritual passion of the young "believers" he interviews against the severe economic, political, and historical contradictions facing their rapidly changing societies.
• Q: How are the insights inside the text sourced and structured?
  A: The book relies entirely on primary, face-to-face oral histories and local immersion. Naipaul moves past official government spokespeople to conduct highly detailed interviews with average citizens—including university students, rural families, religious teachers, and newly radicalized youth—capturing their personal motivations for rejecting Western materialism.
• Q: Did this book contribute to V. S. Naipaul winning the Nobel Prize in Literature?
  A: Yes. When Naipaul was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001, the Nobel Committee specifically celebrated his monumental body of non-fiction travelogues. Among the Believers is globally considered one of his definitive masterworks, praised for its predictive cultural accuracy regarding global geopolitics decades before the events unfolded.

About the Author:

V. S. Naipaul: British Writer

Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born of Indian ancestry in Chaguanas, Trinidad on August 17, 1932.

He was educated at University College, Oxford and lived in Great Britain since 1950. From 1954 to 1956, he edited a radio program on literature for the British Broadcasting Corporation's Caribbean Service. His first novel, The Mystic Masseur, was published in 1957. His other novels included A House for Mr. Biswas, A Bend in the River, Guerrillas, and Half a Life. In a Free State won the Booker Prize in 1971. He started writing nonfiction in the 1960s. His first nonfiction book, The Middle Passage, was published in 1962.

His other nonfiction works included An Area of Darkness, Among the Believers, Beyond Belief, and A Turn in the South. He was knighted in 1990 and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001.

He died on August 11, 2018 at the age of 85.

Bibliographic Data:

• Full Title: Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey
• Author(s): V. S. Naipaul
• Publisher & Imprint: Vintage Books (An imprint of Knopf Doubleday / Penguin Random House; original series catalog footprint tied to original 1982 Vintage Trade distribution)
• Publication Date: 1982 (First Vintage Books Edition; original hardcover published 1981)
• Book Binding Format: Paperback
• Condition: Pre-Owned / Very Good
• Edition: Trade Paperback
• Print Length: 448 Pages (Exact standard text pagination run)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 9780394711959
• ISBN-10: 0394711955
• Library of Congress (LCCN): 81-047321
• Primary Genre (BISAC): TRAVEL / Essays & Travelogues
• Sub-Genres (BISAC): POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / Radicalism; RELIGION / Islam / History; HISTORY / Asia / General
• Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8.0 inches
• Weight: 13.6 oz (approx. 0.85 lbs)

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