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The Muslims of France: Islam Abroad

Milton Viorst
September/October 1996
Summary -- 

Four or five million strong, France's Muslims, mainly from former North African colonies, have made Islam the country's second religion. Invited to immigrate in a decade of boom, Europe's Muslims are less welcome today, and considered threats to jobs and security. In France, a faith uneasy with assimilation comes up against a government offering integration into society, on its own determinedly secular terms. A battle over a head scarf reveals deep cultural rifts.

Milton Viorst, author of Sandcastles: The Arabs in Search of the Modern World, is currently working on a book on political Islam.

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