Power, Faith, And Fantasy: America In The Middle East: 1776 To The Present

Drawing on thousands of government documents and personal letters, featuring original maps and more than 60 photographs, this book reconstructs the diverse and remarkable ways in which Americans have interacted with the Middle East over the last 230 years.

The history of America's political, military, and intellectual involvement in the Middle East from George Washington to George W. Bush. "Will shape our thinking about America and the Middle East for years."--Christopher Dickey, "Newsweek"
From the first cannonballs fired by American warships at North African pirates to the conquest of Falluja by the Marines--from the early American explorers who probed the sources of the Nile to the diplomats who strove for Arab-Israeli peace--the United States has been dramatically involved in the Middle East. For well over two centuries, American statesmen, merchants, and missionaries, both men and women, have had a profound impact on the shaping of this crucial region. Yet their story has never been told until now. Drawing on thousands of government documents and personal letters, featuring original maps and over sixty photographs, this book reconstructs the diverse and remarkable ways in which Americans have interacted with this alluring yet often hostile land stretching from Morocco to Iran, from the Persian Gulf to the Bosporus. Covering over 230 years of history, "Power, Faith, and Fantasy" is an indispensable work for anyone interested in understanding the roots of America's Middle East involvement today. As Niall Ferguson writes, "If you think America's entanglement in the Middle East began with Roosevelt and Truman, Michael Oren's deeply researched and brilliantly written history will be a revelation to you, as it was to me. With its cast of fascinating characters--earnest missionaries, maverick converts, wide-eyed tourists, and even a nineteenth-century George Bush--"Power, Faith, and Fantasy" is not only a terrific read, it is also proofthat you don't really understand an issue until you know its history." 68 illustrations; 4 maps. With a new afterword for the paperback.