The Uncultured Wars Arabs, Muslims and the Poverty of Liberal Thought - New Essays

by Salaita, Steven

• ISBN13: 9781848132351
• ISBN10: 1848132352
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781848132368
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-15
• Publisher: Zed Books
• More Book Details

Summary

This book is a powerful indictment of dominant American liberal-left discourse. Through twelve stylish essays, Steven Salaita returns again and again to his core themes of anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia and the inadequacy of critical thought among the "chattering classes," showing how racism continues to exist in the places where we would least expect it. By looking at topics as diverse as "Is Jackass Justifiable?," "Open Mindedness on Independence Day" and "Ambition, Terrorism and Empathy," Salaita explores why Arabs are marginalized, and who seeks to benefit from this. He goes on to make the case that Arabs and Muslims urgently need to be included in the conversations that people have about American geopolitics. Part of a long tradition of politically engaged writing, and a trailblazer in the emerging genre of Arab-American writing, this book is eminently readable and relevant to our times.

Author Biography

STEVEN SALAITA is Assistant Professor of English at Virginia Tech. His other books include Anti-Arab Racism in the USA, The Holy Land in Transit, and Arab American Literary Fictions, Cultures, and Politics. 

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Anti-Arab racism, American liberals, and the new civilian terrorists	p. 5
The indispensably expendable	p. 22
I was called up to commit genocide	p. 33
Open-mindedness on Independence Day	p. 51
Michael Moore does it again	p. 53
Ambition, terrorism, and empathy	p. 68
Is Jackass unjustifiable?	p. 86
The perils and profits of doing comparative work	p. 98
What is Michael Lerner really talking about?	p. 117
Immigrants are not homogenous	p. 126
Distress and bluster at Columbia; or, The day Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was invited to academe and promptly emblematized terrorism	p. 130
The zealots of clandestine faith	p. 146
Conclusion	p. 161
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