Few fields have been as well plowed as that of Middle East studies. Indeed, the ever expanding shelf in the bookstore on the topic groans under the weight of a torrent of new works, many which might be charitably described as derivative of already existing work. What a thrill then when a new book appears covering otherwise undisturbed ground!

Michael Oren's excellent "Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present" is such a book. Instead of covering familiar subjects, Mr. Oren offers an insightful study of an area few consider, America's relationship to the Middle East in the 19th Century. Many will surely wonder at how any author can squeeze more than 600 pages - not including footnotes and bibliography -- over a topic that you might suspect could be covered in scant pages. Such is the wonderful surprise that Oren offers. In gripping prose that will be familiar with those who have already read his definitive history of the Six Day War, Oren traces America's involvement in the Middle East and North Africa all the way back to the Revolutionary War period.

Philosophically and temperamentally committed to avoiding "old world entanglements" Thomas Jefferson, first as Washington's Secretary of State and then as President, confronts the question of what to do about American shipping seized by the petty north African Berber and Arab kingdoms. The Middle East a lucrative market, European states pay tribute to these states in exchange for "protection" a notion offensive to many early American statesman. Thus, having first resisted the creation of a standing navy, Jefferson reverses course in order to protect American shipping interests. Thus begins US involvement in the region.

The study of this period provides much data of interest. To take one example, Oren cites an early treaty with a north African Muslim state, signed when many of the Framers still lived, stating categorically that the United States was "not a Christian nation." Likewise interesting, the American legation in Tangiers stands as the countries oldest.

Oren follows the story through the 19th Century and the US involvement with the Ottoman Empire. Through it all, he likewise discusses the concept of "Restorationism," that a Jewish State should be created in the area between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, an idea with deep roots in American Protestantism. Indeed, readers who think themselves knowledgeable about diplomatic history, Zionism, and the Middle East, will likely find great surprise in learning about American missionary stations built for the very purpose of teaching Jews agricultural skills, well before Theodore Herzl's efforts. Marshalling considerable evidence, Oren argues that the US commitment to the notion of a Jewish state indeed far proceeds Israel's birth in 1948. Time and again one hears that America's relationship with Israel arises out of some nefarious political cabal warping national interest, in contrast Oren shows how such the heart of the relationship lies deep in America culture and character. Further to his credit, Oren flies through the modern period, ground well covered in other books.

Many of the issues covered will have a familiar ring to 21st century ears, such as presidents torn between cleaving to stabilizing power or siding with American ideals. Indeed, one often finds themselves wishing that Oren wrote prior to the invasion of Iraq, thus giving decision makers some much needed perspective. Nonetheless, readers will find themselves thrilled at all they can learn in this important work.

Excellent. Covers US involvement in the Middle East starting with George Washington through George W Bush.

Michael Oren created an encyclopedic, all-encompassing, pioneering masterpiece with this work. His detailed accounts of the United States' interaction with the Middle East and all of the domestic and international consequences--often concomitant and intertwined--during the Barbary Wars, Antebellum Era, Civil War and Reconstruction, both World Wars, Containment Era, and the early 21st century were highly informative and invigorating. While a great deal of scholarly, editorial, and literary archives are kept on American-Middle East relations within the past several decades, there is, by comparison, not very much out there on the United States' contact with the region and Islam. By contrast, works on European relations with the region are vast because of British and French imperial strongholds on post-Ottoman countries. When I found this book, I was hoping that Oren would fill in the gaps and cover the early American public's perception of the region's people, customs, religion, etc., which I've always wondered about, and I was not disappointed. He covered extensively the mystique and splendor that surrounded the region to the 18th- and 19th-century American citizens because of their sole exposure to the region deriving from the Bible, as well as the religious reasoning for American voyages, settlements, and contributions there. Also covered was the galvanization of the American public in Middle Eastern affairs borne out of religious sentiment and solidarity, such as the successful crowdfunding and unsuccessful but rambunctious lobbying for Armenian refugees in response to their genocide.

This really was one of the greater books I've read thus far and would recommend it to anyone even slightly interested in diplomacy, foreign affairs, social history, etc.

I actually learned several things I didn't know that went on behind the scenes in the Middle East. It's fascinating how integral Israel is in the region, and also how the U.S. actually became allies with it. I will always love 43 as my president, but I wish he had fired Rumsfeld!

I am scandalised to find myself compelled to report that this book actually made me feel more kindly disposed to the USA. Very balanced, except in the closing section covering post-1948 events, it does not varnish US involvement in the Middle East but it makes very clear that its motives and those of its citizens prior to the fall of the European empires were not uniformly reprehensible, and were sometimes honourable. Certainly more so than the European empires, and often more so than those of Middle Eastern rulers.

Interestingly, involvement in the region has been old and profound, going back literally to the very inception of the Republic. The pyramid on one of its currency bills speaks of its romantic fantasies while the creation of the Constitution itself was bound up in the crisis created by Mediterranean piracy. Lady Liberty herself was to have shone her light from the Suez Canal. The USA has had its fists clenched on the Middle East since there was a USA, and the consequences have shaped both in ways both good and ill. Even its obnoxious missionaries contributed positively to the region, having founded school after school in the face of Islam's prohibition on proselytism.

The book sees US engagement in terms of the three considerations of the title. Power needs perhaps no explication, with the blood has still not dry on the streets of Iraq, but it is interesting that the Barbary pirates offered the USA its first serious challenge as a power. A challenge to which the USA rose effectively, establishing for the first time its bellicose potency in contradistinction to Europe's appeasement. On the other side of the ledger, Americans were widely disgusted by Britain and France's brutal seizure of colonies in the region and ultimately exercised their power to help free them, at the same time unleashing nationalist and secular forces that divide the Umma violently to this day. These influences are complex, not straightforward, and sometimes even subtle, despite a ceaseless stream of coups, threats and interventions.

The role of American faith is equally multifaceted. Christian supremacism and Christian Zionism show the face that the USA is best recognised by today, yet opposition to Islam is not the whole story. While America never produced a T.E. Lawrence, it has produced many sympathetic to Islam's egalitarian ideals, seeing a mirror of its own, and perhaps been more true to the ideal than the miserably cynical Muslim rulers themselves. And then there is fantasy - the freely wandering Arab, the majesty of Egypt and the dream of Eastern sexuality behind a diaphanous veil. This dream has perhaps died, but the author shows that it once exerted a powerful pull on American adventurers.

The book is eminently readable and the printing I received, incidentally, of a lovely quality. The approach is admirably balanced and free of nationalist self-congratulation up until the post-War period. After 1948 a certain amount of naivety sets in, and the author freely concedes that it is in any case harder to deal with the period as a historian while state archives remain closed. On the whole a first-class history and a welcome remedy to some of the more polemic and partisan discussion of this subject in the years since 9-11.

ثقيل على اليد؛ وعلى القلب!


اختبار حقيقي للصبر، يكابد القارئ مشقة السير على خطى الأمريكي، الحالم ثم المؤمن ثم القوي، ويستلهم عِبَر الطريق التي جعلت منه وسيطا ومحررا وصانع سلام!


كتب بفوقية وصفاقة، وظَّف لسرد تاريخ يحتفي بالوجود الأمريكي في المنطقة، توليفة مريعة من تقاليد الاستشراق والدعاية الإمبريالية والأفكار الصهيونية.

This is an impressively accessible introduction to the clusterf*ck that is the US's relationship with the Middle East. It stops early into the 2000s, so I wish there was a later edition where I could learn more. But this is an excellent entry into what is undoubtedly the defining international relationship of our time. Not exactly pleasure reading (though not necessarily hard work, either) but I definitely felt better educated on this topic once I'd finished this book.

A solid primer on America's presence in the Middle East.

بانوراما تاريخية عظيمة

As Arab we don’t like American the killers in Iraq Syria.

This is a fascinating history of U. S. Involvement in the Middle East from the Barbary Pirate War to Bush Administration’s War in Iraq. The book covers both official government policy and involvement along with explorers, tourists, missionaries, churches, and private companies. There are three themes that weave throughout the years: POWER - military, diplomatic, and financial, RELIGION - Catholics, Jews, Muslims, FANTASY - myths based on the Bible, literature, poetry, the World’s Fair, television, and movies. The Middle East is a large area from Morocco to Afghanistan and was often presented in a negative way which helped shape early U.S. foreign policy. Starting with the Barbary Pirate War we found out that using power in the Middle East came with compromises and moral conflicts. One religious theme throughout is about the restoration of the Jews in Palestine which later emerged as Zionism. Missionaries while prohibited from converting Muslims, set up schools and hospitals to reach the people. In the 1800s, stereotyped tourists flocked to the Middle East writing biased stories about the people and their culture. While condemning slavery in Arab countries, they ignored slavery in the U. S. Diplomatically the United States tried to remain neutral when European countries carved up parts of the Middle East for themselves as oil became a major need for the western nations. With persecution of the Jews in Europe, efforts were made to relocate them in Palestine which later caused a major dilemma for the U. S., how to aid the settlement of the Jews without jeopardizing the oil supply. With the end of WWII and the Cold War a new fear was that communism would infiltrate the nationalist movements in the Middle East. While this consumed the U. S. Foreign policy a new threat would emerge that was more difficult to deal with, radical terrorist groups. The Cold War became a “holy war”. Since there was no government to negotiate with the policy to eliminate their safe havens, their sponsors was attempted with limited success. Meanwhile, Israel emerged as a force resisted by Arab neighbors which led to several wars and continued terrorist actions. With the U. S. increasing involved, they became the main target of terrorists culminating in the 911 attacks. American foreign policy was quite inept in dealing with this new threat. The book ends with the war in Iraq by President Bush.ending in 2011. The author says that on the balance, the U. S. brought more positives than negatives to the Middle East. Negatives; oil pumped did not help indigenous people, oppressive regimes backed, leaders overthrown. Positives; modern education, health care, emergency relief, building of infrastructure. This continues to be a difficult foreign policy to enact. A very interesting read.

An excellent history of American policy in the Middle East. This book must be read by students of the area, which is so complex, even this book did not grasp the divide between America and the Middle East, although it is a seminal work in this subject. For me, who has been in the Middle East in one way or another for more than 50 years, I learned more about the influence of western missionaries and American schools who sowed the seeds of revolution in the area.