It was the emblematic crime of our moment: on a cold November day in Amsterdam, an angry young Moslem man, Mohammed Bouyeri shot and killed the celebrated and controversial Dutch filmmaker, Theo van Gogh, for making with the vocally anti-Islamic Somali-born Dutch politician, Ayaan Hersi Ali, a movie that 'blasphemed' Islam. After Bouyeri shot van Gogh, he calmly stood over the body and cut his throat with a curved machete, as if performing a ritual sacrifice. The murder horrified quiet, complacent, prosperous Holland, a country that prides itself on being a bastion of tolerance, and sent shockwaves across Europe and around the world. Shortly thereafter, Ian Buruma returned to his native country to try to make sense of it all, and to see what larger meaning should and shouldn't be drawn from this story. The result is "Murder in Amsterdam", a masterpiece.
