It is rare for a book to be notable first and foremost for what is not in it. But that is certainly the case with The Cartoons that Shook the World, which came to international attention earlier this year when the news broke that its publisher, Yale University Press, had decided not to include the cartoons that are actually the book’s subject.

The cartoons in question are of course those depicting Islam’s prophet Muhammad – originally published in 2005 in the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten (J-P). The publication and republication of these cartoons have caused considerable anger among clerically whipped-up followers of the religion of peace. One of the Danish cartoons