Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of Orientalism by Zachary Lockman, Eugene L. (Eds.) Rogan, Eugene L. Rogan (Editor)

From the Publisher

Zachary Lockman's informed and thoughtful history of European Orientalism and U.S. Middle East studies, the 'clash of civilizations' debate and America's involvement in the region has become a highly recommended and widely used text since its publication in 2004. The second edition of Professor Lockman's book brings his analysis up to date by considering how the study of the Middle East has evolved in the intervening years, in the context of the U.S. occupation of Iraq and the 'global war on terror'.

Foreign Affairs

The first half of this book surveys how the West has "imagined" the Middle East from early encounters to the twentieth century. In the second half, Lockman narrows his focus, tracing the American image of the Middle East over the past half-century. One chapter, devoted to the scholarly debate sparked by Edward Said's Orientalism, offers the best available short analysis of the views of Said, Bernard Lewis, and other major thinkers. Other themes include modernization theory, which emerged soon after World War II as a critical determinant of American thought about the Middle East; U.S. governmental support for Middle Eastern studies; and the role of think tanks. Lockman ends with a tough but fair and persuasive critique of Martin Kramer's broadside Ivory Towers in the Sand, which charges that American academic scholarship on the contemporary Middle East gets it all wrong. Most impressive about Lockman's study of these "contending visions," past and present, is the perceptive and fair appraisal he offers of those whose vision he does not share.

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents