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His forays into the Balkans led him to conclude all kinds of impolitic things: that the Serbs hadn't attempted genocide in Kosovo, that Western attempts to impose a multi-ethnic society will fail, that there are some problems that are tangled and thorny and should be approached with caution. His interests were varied and eclectic and there were plenty of problems that he didn't' pretend to know the answers to.

In a truly bitter irony, one of the most striking aspects of Pearl's work is his obvious sympathy for the Islamic world. For example, while his portraits of Iran evince a Westerner's chuckle at the country's internal squabbles, he clearly saw the nation not as an "axis of evil" but as a religious people grappling with, and evolving to accommodate, the modern world.

Indeed, Danny Pearl's dedication to clear and fair reporting seems to suggest that he would be uncomfortable with attempts to cast his death in the symbolic, sometimes even hagiographic, terms in which it has been rendered. The bedrock convictions that stand out while reading At Home in the World are a deep skepticism about power and about grand claims generally. And a wistful, tragic—and perhaps fundamentally utopian —hope that the world could somehow be set right, that people could in fact work out their problems without doing tremendous damage to one another.

Jeremy Lott is the 2002 Burton C. Gray Memorial Intern for Reason magazine.

Copyright © 2002 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Visit Books & Culture online at BooksandCulture.com or subscribe here.

The Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal has today posted an excerpt from At Home in the World.

Profits from the book will be donated to The Daniel Pearl Memorial Trust and The Daniel Pearl Foundation.

When Pearl's death was confirmed, The Wall Street Journalofficial statement said, "We will, in coming months, find ways, public and private, to celebrate the great work and good works Danny did. But today is a day to grieve."

Pearl began as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in 1990 and wrote or co-wrote 68 stories for Page One. The paper has posted a collection of some of his most memorable front-page stories.

PBS's Online NewsHour has full coverage of the Pearl kidnapping and murder.

Obituaries for pearl include those from CNN, BBC, Time and The Guardian.

Articles on reaction to Pearl's death include:

Family, friends and colleagues honor memory and work of Daniel Pearl—The Philadelphia Inquirer (May 27, 2002)

Slaughter of 'the sweetest guy'—BBC (February 22, 2002)

Remembering Daniel Pearl—Newsweek (February 21, 2002)

Reactions to news of Daniel Pearl's death—CNN (February 21, 2002)

Related articles include:

Parents of slain reporter Daniel Pearl give first interview since son's death—Associated Press (June 25, 2002)

Baby Born To Daniel Pearl's Widow—CBS (May 31, 2002)

Books & Culture Corner appears Mondays at ChristianityToday.com. Earlier Books & Culture Corners include:

A Cry for Help | Sudanese Christians gather in Houston and ask for U.S. support. (June 17, 2002)

Agrarians of the World, Unite! | Wendell Berry's vision, and how Christians should respond to it. (June 10, 2002)

Stop, Drop, and Cover … | Then hack your lungs out and die. (June 3, 2002)

Death of an Evolutionist | RIP Stephen Jay Gould. (May 31, 2002)

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July (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46