BOOKS

For details, and reviews, of my books click on a cover.

Praise for The Quest for a Moral Compass

‘An absolute tour de force. I can imagine it replacing Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy on many a bookshelf – certainly mine’
Tom Holland

‘What I love about Kenan Malik’s book is its unashamed, unabashed ambition… A tour de force of lucidity and narrative skill.’
Michael Ignatieff

‘This is intellectual history in the grand manner, in the tradition of Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy, written with the same clarity, accessibility and narrative verve as the master himself… We are all in Kenan Malik’s debt. This is a majestic and timely work.’
Jonathan Sacks

‘An extraordinarily rewarding investigation.’
Raymond Tallis

‘A remarkable achievement. I learned more than I can say.’
Austin Dacey

Praise for From Fatwa to Jihad
Shortlisted for the 2010 Orwell Prize

‘Gripping… The Rushdie affair has shaped all our lives. This book shows us how.’
Hanif Kureishi

‘An important intervention in the current debate on freedom of expression’
Monica Ali

‘A riveting political history… Impeccably researched, brimming with detail, yet razor-sharp in its argument.’
Lisa Appignanesi, Independent

‘Few writers have untangled the paradoxes and unintended consequences of political Islam as deftly as Malik does here.’
Maureen Freely, Washington Post

‘From Fatwa to Jihad tells, for the most part brilliantly, this baleful tale… a challenge to boneheads on both the right and the left’
Bryan Appleyard, Sunday Times

‘A valuable and sophisticated attempt to understand some of the most troubling phenomena of our time, without resort to oversimplification.’
Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal

‘Seldom can a book have had a more searing relevance to contemporary events. Seldom has a book offered a more revealing portrait of both a religion and a nation’s frail carapace and intellectual and moral failings.’
Lindsay Johns, New Humanist

‘A detailed and arresting recount and analysis of recent history and a valuable contribution to Rushdie’s own cause of free speech.’
Sudeep Paul, Indian Express

‘An admirable piece of reportage… subtle and intelligent’
Stuart Kelly, Scotsman

‘The great appeal of From Fatwa to Jihad is its pitiless observation… which raises it above the easy standards of one-sided polemic. No one gets away.’
Faisal Gazi, Comment is Free

Praise for Strange Fruit
Longlisted for the 2009 Royal Society Science Book Prize

‘Challenging and provocative’
Royal Society panel

‘Eloquent’
Anjana Ahuja, Times Science Books of the Year, 2009

‘Malik is a formidable enemy of fuzzy or wishful thinking. What sets him apart from the plain-speaking polemicist is the impressive breadth of his research and his critical grasp of scientific methodology. Few targets escape the reach of his forensic intelligence.’
Andrew Anthony, Observer

‘Three cheers for Malik’s rationalism’
Ian Hacking, New Scientist

‘Lucid and important book’
Steve Cave, Financial Times

‘A nicely provocative and stylish polemic’
Steven Poole, Guardian

‘Gloriously sharp and combative’
Robin Walsh, Culture Wars

Praise for Man, Beast and Zombie

’The most insightful and thoughtful account of the contemporary claims of science.’
Roy Porter

‘A ray of common sense in a fog of pseudoscience.’
Steve Jones

‘Man, Beast and Zombie is wonderfully written, rigorously argued, witty, knowledgeable and balanced in its judgements.’
Raymond Tallis, Prospect

‘He manages to convey an amazing range of controversial history in a style that is always clear, sharp and eloquent… A helpful and important book.’
Mary Midgley, London Evening Standard

’An admirable, truly humanist work’
Noga Arikha, TLS