For much of the last decade Muslim diaspora communities in Europe have been the subject of intense scrutiny. A spectrum of views has sprung up to explain away their seeming unwillingness, or inability, to embrace normative European values in place of more conservative Islamist ones. It is the conundrum that has plagued journalists, commentators, politicians, and their advisers ever since 9/11. Why have second-generation Muslims who enjoy greater liberties, opportunities and rights than their immigrant parents refused to integrate? Are they disenchanted or disenfranchised? 

These questions lie at the heart of Robert Leiken’s Europe’s Angry Muslims. Surveying three countries – Britain, France and Germany – Leiken compares differences in the immigrant experience at both communal and state levels. There is some utility to this approach, which juxtaposes Britain’s relatively laissez-faire multiculturalist attitude with France’s