
Intellectual Self-Destruction
How the West Gambles Away Its Future
ibidem (Publisher)
Published on 10. October 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
314 pages
978-3-8382-2028-4 (ISBN)
Description
Dive into the unsettling rise of a radical anti-Western coalition within the sanctuaries of scholarship, where Islamist and far-left ideologies converge. What began as a fringe student movement has now permeated elite academic institutions, subtly dictating the narratives in politics and media.
Through meticulous case studies from the US and Germany, this research uncovers the dark underbelly of ideological extremism, institutional betrayal, and the surge in antisemitic violence. It draws chilling parallels to historical academic dalliances with totalitarianism, revealing how today's universities are legitimizing Islamism and radical leftist thought.
This study is a clarion call, exposing how Western academia is at a tipping point, with Europe on the brink of following America's path of radicalization. It's an urgent plea to safeguard our cultural and intellectual heritage from the encroaching shadows of ideological subversion.
Reviews / Votes
By analyzing current student protests and the political undercurrents that shape it, Sittig and Petri tackle one of the thorniest issues in current affairs. They do so with a remarkable combination of clarity, moral courage, and academic rigor. In particular, their work sheds light on the ideological and operational interactions between Islamist and hyper-progressive politics, a phenomenon that goes well beyond college campuses and that has been the subject of ample debates in intellectual, political and security circles at the highest levels throughout Europe. The result is a groundbreaking piece of academic work that deserves broad attention. -Lorenzo Vidino, Program Director of Extremism, George Washington University, Expert on Islamism in Europe and North AmericaMore details
Series
Edition
Paperback original
Language
English
Place of publication
Hannover
Germany
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 210 mm
Width: 148 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
408 gr
ISBN-13
978-3-8382-2028-4 (9783838220284)
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
02/2026
ibidem
€9.99
Available for download

E-Book
11/2025
ibidem
€15.99
Available for download
Persons
Author
Franziska Alexandra Sittig completed her master's degree in International Affairs/European Politics at Columbia University in New York City, where she specialized in terrorism and Islamism. She publishes regularly for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and also published for Axel Springer, Zeit, the Jüdische Allgemeine, Focus Money, Cicero as well as the City Journal. She is a former associate at Manhattan Institute, and also spoke on CBS News, ABC News, Fox News and others.
In 2016, she won the Zeit Young Talent Award.
Noam Petri studies medicine at the Charité Berlin and is vice president of the Jewish Students' Union Germany. For his year-long commitment he won the Frankfurt Citizen Award for Volunteering in 2021 and was nominated for the German Engagement Prize in 2022. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has described him as »the >jack of all trades<«.
Series Editor
ISNI: 0000 0004 9646 6656
Foreword
ISNI: 0000 0001 0868 7300
Reihan Salam is president of the Manhattan Institute, a leading American Think Tank, and is also known as author, commentator, and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Atlantic and National Review. He is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2017, he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.