“Jersey Shore” doesn’t represent Italians in NJ, “Sister Wives” doesn’t represent all Mormons, “Kate Plus Eight” doesn’t represent all families of multiples. So why would would we expect this show to represent all American Muslims?

The film “Fordson” places focus on a few high school athletes preparing for a football game, but the real narrative paints layers in the evolution and lives of this population as Americans, as Arabs, as Muslims, as people.

Charles Kurzman’s book The Missing Martyrs is an important contribution to the combating of false stereotypes, pointing to terrorism as a political rather than religious phenomenon and demonstrating the relative failure of al Qaeda ideology.

Expect instead debate about the Brotherhood to ignite in coming years as Egypt stumbles from one military tyranny to who-knows-what. This makes two recently published books on the Brotherhood especially useful.

The new film “Mooz-lum,” by writer/director Qasim Basir, might seem preachy at times, but the only message it seems to preach is that through embracing our common humanity, struggling through our own hopes, fears, strengths, and wounds, redemption is always possible.