It’s not a law and religion story, but we’d like to extend a warm welcome to the blogosphere to our friend and reader John McGinnis. John, a professor at Northwestern Law, will be posting at the very worthwhile Liberty Law Blog. His first post, about cell phones on airplanes, is here. John argues against legislation that would ban cell phones on flights. I’m not sure about cell phones, myself. Could we ban other passengers?
Rubin & Schwanitz, “Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East”
Next month, Yale will publish Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern 
Middle East, by Barry Rubin (Interdisciplinary Center, Israel) and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz (Interdisciplinary Center, Israel). The publisher’s description follows.
During the 1930s and 1940s, a unique and lasting political alliance was forged among Third Reich leaders, Arab nationalists, and Muslim religious authorities. From this relationship sprang a series of dramatic events that, despite their profound impact on the course of World War II, remained secret until now. In this groundbreaking book, esteemed Middle East scholars Barry Rubin and Wolfgang G. Schwanitz uncover for the first time the complete story of this dangerous alliance and explore its continuing impact on Arab politics in the twenty-first century. Rubin and Schwanitz reveal, for example, the full scope of Palestinian leader Amin al-Husaini’s support of Hitler’s genocidal plans against European and Middle Eastern Jews. In addition, they expose the extent of Germany’s long-term promotion of Islamism and jihad. Drawing on unprecedented research in European, American, and Middle East archives, many recently opened and never before written about, the authors offer new insight on the intertwined development of Nazism and Islamism and its impact on the modern Middle East.
Ari, “Earth Politics: Religion, Decolonization, and Bolivia’s Indigenous Intellectuals”
Next month, Duke University will publish Earth Politics: Religion, 
Decolonization, and Bolivia’s Indigenous Intellectuals, by Waskar Ari (University of Nebraska-Lincoln). The publisher’s description follows.
Earth Politics focuses on the lives of four indigenous activist-intellectuals in Bolivia, key leaders in the Alcaldes Mayores Particulares (AMP), a movement established to claim rights for indigenous education and reclaim indigenous lands from hacienda owners. The AMP leaders invented a discourse of decolonization, rooted in part in native religion, and used it to counter structures of internal colonialism, including the existing racial systems. Waskar Ari calls their social movement, practices, and discourse “Earth Politics,” both because of the political meaning that the AMP gave to the worship of the Aymara gods, and because the AMP emphasized the idea of the earth and the place of Indians on it. Depicting the social worlds and life work of the activists, Ari traverses Bolivia’s political and social landscape from the 1920s into the early 1970s. He reveals the AMP’s extensive geographic reach, genuine grassroots quality, and vibrant regional diversity. Ari had access to the private archives of indigenous families, and he collected oral histories, speaking with men and women who knew the AMP leaders. The resulting examination of Bolivian indigenous activism is one of unparalleled nuance and depth.