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Audiobooks > Religion >  General Religion > The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line between Christianity and Islam

Download The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line between Christianity and Islam Audiobook

Extended Audio Sample The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line between Christianity and Islam Audiobook, by Eliza Griswold Click for printable size audiobook cover
3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 3.00 (342 ratings) (rate this audio book) Author: Eliza Griswold Narrator: Tavia Gilbert Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Format: Unabridged Audiobook Delivery: Instant Download Audio Length: Release Date: May 2017 ISBN: 9781538464892
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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.

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Quotes & Awards

  • “The Tenth Parallel is a beautifully written book, full of arresting stories woven around a provocative issue—whether fundamentalism leads to violence—which Griswold investigates through individual lives rather than caricatures or abstractions.”

    New York Times Book Review

  • “An American poet and experienced journalist, the author brings to her book a sharp eye for telling details and a keen sense of place.”

    Washington Post

  • “Blame it on the ‘tsetse fly belt’ dividing north and south Africa. Or the schizophrenic monsoons in Asia. Blame it, Eliza Griswold suggests, on overweening hubris and nearsightedness. But don’t blame the cultural divide between Islam and Christianity on those ‘whose faith is bound to their struggle for resources and survival.’ Far more than a travelogue, her book is a richly textured fugue that dramatizes the dizzying interplay between notions—faith, morality, identity—and nations…Given our world today, Griswold’s book is as timely as ever. These dispatches are an urgent call—not simply to overlook differences but rather, as she puts it, ‘to engage, engage, engage.’”

    Los Angeles Times

  • “A revolutionary work…Griswold’s courageous pilgrimage changes the way we think about Christianity and Islam by exploding any simplistic ‘clash’ narrative. She returns us to the most basic truth of human existence: that the world and its people are interconnected.”

    Archbishop Desmond Tutu

  • “Griswold does her best to counter the received wisdom of interfaith fighting by astutely pointing out where religion is simply used as a tactic in a nonreligious conflict over land, resources, or the like…Though not a scholar of Islam, Griswold has a profound grasp of the misinterpretation and manipulation of Islam…Always maintaining a journalist’s objective view, Griswold, a published poet, nevertheless enchants the reader with her lush, flowing prose.”

    Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  • “A compelling portrait of embattled human communities yearning for more-than-human succor.”

    Booklist (starred review)

  • “Griswold keenly investigates how the global clash of religions especially takes its toll on women and children. She visits religious leaders on both sides and debates finer points of their arguments. An important ongoing venture in the West’s attempts to understand the conflicts of this region.”

    Kirkus Reviews
  • A New York Times bestseller
  • A 2010 Publishers Weekly Best Book for Nonfiction
  • One of the 2010 New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books for Nonfiction

Listener Opinions

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Mbreaden | 2/4/2014

    " A must-read! Great profiles of feuding cultures/religions along the 10th Parallel. Basic premise: evangelicals have ruined the world. Very enlightening. And she is a fantastic prose writer. A poet, as well, she has a lightly lyrical touch that renders these horrific truths readable. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Edward Sullivan | 2/3/2014

    " Insightful, thoughful, interesting, and enlightening. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Kathy | 2/1/2014

    " A frustrating book for two reasons: my inability to read the text except holistically because of all the nations and citizens Griswold presents, and my sense that the problem of religious fundamentalism is so long-standing and pervasive that getting Christians and Moslems to live in harmony and mutual respect seems humanly impossible. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Sharon Mollerus | 1/10/2014

    " I appreciate Griswold's courage in going to strange and dangerous places to learn the context of conflicts between Christians and Muslims and to meet some of the major players. She is an objective observer who questions herself as she encounters believers, remaining open to the mysterious and deep relationship with God that many have. Her account of the missionary Gracia Burnham, held captive by Al Qaeda in the Philippines for a year, losing her husband, and in the process learning an impossible forgiveness, is unforgettable. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Sally | 12/10/2013

    " Well worth reading for those wishing to understand and put a human face on conflicts in Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia, many of which are crystallizing around tensions between Christians and Muslims. Many of the difficulties are caused by economic, cultural, and political problems in which religion has become a group identifier or unifier. Also, fundamentalists on both sides push matters to extremes and violence, rather than seeking ways to compromise or deescalate situations. Moderate majorities have a hard time hanging on to values such as tolerance and women's rights (such as they are); in places like Somalia, the situation is so deteriorated that it is simply chaos destructive to any normal way of life. I was surprised how greatly American Christians, sometimes with US government support, are involved in creating/exacerbating these conflicts, particularly through missionary efforts. The book is very well written and gripping throughout. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Kimberlee | 11/23/2013

    " Another disappointing read - a great concept, traveling along the 10th parallel to troubled lands. Robert Kaplan has done it better. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Marcie | 11/16/2013

    " Am interesting idea. But places in the book dragged. "

  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5 Craig | 11/10/2013

    " Interesting review of various historical conflicts between Islam and Christianity. I thought it was a bit choppy moving from country to country, between different time periods, and from third to first person accounts. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Luke | 9/6/2013

    " This lady spent seven years traveling through countries in Africa and Asia split between Christianity and Islam talking to people from both religions. Very interesting. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Bill | 8/7/2013

    " Well written and insightful culturalism examined at an expanding geographic clash point. "

  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5 James | 1/13/2013

    " Meh. Interviews with local notables were interesting, but the long historical discursions were so general that they didn't really add anything to the book. I lost interest about halfway through. "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Mary Lou | 11/27/2012

    " very even-handed treatment of this issue. "

  • 2 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 52 out of 5 Christy | 10/27/2012

    " This book was great through Nigeria, okay through Sudan, and skimmable through Indonesia. It just got tiring. I think that, unless you're seriously history crazy, this is a book to buy and then read at intervals throughout the year. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Jeff | 10/27/2012

    " Very in-depth look at where the lines are drawn between Christianity and Islam. Written from a secular worldview, but felt the author was fair in the portrayals. Would recommend this book to anyone living or planning to live in this part of the world. Great insight! "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Deb | 9/10/2012

    " Amazing story within a story! This is an enjoyable, easy read about a complex subject. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Hanna | 4/17/2011

    " so good. poetic language, captivating stories through and through. it will get you up to date on global religious discourse. "

  • 5 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 55 out of 5 Becky | 4/5/2011

    " very scary how fundamentalist christians influence our foreign policy "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Stargrave | 3/13/2011

    " Good anecdotes and colorful writing makes these encounters easy to imagine. The horizontal structure made it seem more a collection of stories than a directed argument. "

  • 4 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 54 out of 5 Hpnyknits | 2/19/2011

    " a fascinating account of people and places we know very little about, and how it will have an effect on the whole world.
    an eye opener. who knew evangelical Christians are trying to "win souls" for poetical gains... "

  • 3 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 53 out of 5 Mary Lou | 2/1/2011

    " very even-handed treatment of this issue. "

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About the Author

Eliza Griswold, a fellow at the New America Foundation and New York Times bestselling author, received a 2010 Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome. Her journalism has appeared in the Atlantic, New Yorker, New York Times Magazine, and Harper’s Magazine, among others. A 2007 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, she was awarded the first Robert I. Friedman Award for investigative reporting. A collection of her poems, Wideawake Field, was published in 2007.

About the Narrator

Tavia Gilbert, an acclaimed narrator of more than four hundred full-cast and multivoice audiobooks for virtually every publisher in the industry, is an Audie Award nominee and the recipient of numerous Earphones Awards, a Voice Arts Award, and a Listen-Up Award. With frequent inclusion on best of year and annual top ten lists, she is a trusted and increasingly sought-after actress for work across every genre, from children’s and YA, to literary fiction, nonfiction, and genre fiction. Audible has named her a Genre-Defining Narrator: Master of Memoir, and Library Journal said of her, “as close as you can get to a full-cast narration with a solo voice.” She is a producer, singer, photographer, and a writer, as well as the cofounder of a feminist publishing company, Animal Mineral, with fiction and nonfiction focusing on relationships, love, and identity.

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