American Orientalism

by Little, Douglas

• ISBN13: 9780807858981
• ISBN10: 0807858986
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-02
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

Douglas Little explores the stormy American relationship with the Middle East from World War II through the war in Iraq, focusing particularly on the complex and often inconsistent attitudes and interests that helped put the United States on a collision course with radical Islam early in the new millennium. After documenting the persistence of "orientalist" stereotypes in American popular culture, Little examines oil, Israel, and other aspects of U.S. policy. He concludes that a peculiar blend of arrogance and ignorance has led American officials to overestimate their ability to shape events in the Middle East from 1945 through the present day, and that it has been a driving force behind the Iraq war. For this updated third edition, Little covers events through 2007, including a new chapter on the Bush Doctrine, demonstrating that in many important ways, George W. Bush's Middle Eastern policies mark a sharp break with the past. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Douglas Little is professor of history at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts

Table of Contents

Preface to the Third Edition
What Went Wrong?: Wake Me When September Ends	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Abbreviations	p. xvii
Introduction: Gideon's Band in the Holy Land: We're Not in Kansas Anymore	p. 1
Orientalism, American Style: The Middle East in the Mind of America	p. 9
Opening the Door: Business, Diplomacy, and America's Stake in Middle East Oil	p. 43
The Making of a Special Relationship: America and Israel	p. 77
A Tale of Four Doctrines: U.S. National Security, the Soviet Threat, and the Middle East	p. 117
Sympathy for the Devil?: America, Nasser, and Arab Revolutionary Nationalism	p. 157
Modernizing the Middle East: From Reform to Revolution in Iraq, Libya, and Iran	p. 193
Kicking the Vietnam Syndrome: Waging Limited War from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf	p. 229
Opportunities Lost and Found: The United States and the Arab-Israeli Peace Process	p. 267
Not Your Father's Persian Gulf War: The Bush Doctrine, Iraq, and Radical Islam	p. 307
Notes	p. 343
Bibliography	p. 393
Index	p. 421
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