- Paperback: 376 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press (5 Oct 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0520228103
- ISBN-13: 978-0520228108
- Product Dimensions: 22.8 x 15.3 x 2.4 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,523,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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"Our 25 Favorite Books of 2001: McAlister is uniquely placed to reveal . . . the significance of the Middle East to Americans."--"Village Voice
Product Description
In the last half of the 20th century, cultural products - from films and news reports to museum exhibits and novels - profoundly shaped ideas about the relationship between Americans and the Middle East. In this innovative book, Melani McAlister explores the cultural history of political interests, arguing that US encounters with the Middle East were influenced by both the presence of oil and the religious symbolism of the region. McAlister's richly textured study shows how culture functions as a social and historical force in shaping politics and identity. She skillfully weaves lively and accessible readings of popular culture with a rigorous analysis of US foreign policy and the domestic politics of race. McAlister begins by situating the postwar development of US-Middle East relations, including the rise of anticolonialism and the establishment of the state of Israel. Subsequent chapters consider specific events and cultural texts such as the epic film "The Ten Commandments", the King Tut museum exhibit, writings from the Black arts movement, the US-Iranian hostage crisis and the 1990-1991 Gulf War. In each of these cases, McAlister demonstrates how representations of the Middle East have been a site of struggle over both the nature of US foreign policy and the construction of race, religion and gender within the United States. Truly interdisciplinary, this work will appeal to a wide audience as it illuminates the significant intersection of culture and politics that is at the heart of both nationalism and globalization.
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First Sentence
When Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments opened in New York in November 1956, the critical consensus was that the director had created a middle-brow, melodramatic, and highly suspect account of the biblical story of Moses. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
When Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments opened in New York in November 1956, the critical consensus was that the director had created a middle-brow, melodramatic, and highly suspect account of the biblical story of Moses. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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2 reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Excellent exploration of cultural and social identity
17 Mar 2004
Format:Paperback
An incredibly good book. McAlister dissects and analyzes the representations of the Middle East in various media -- movies, news, plays, books, etc. -- and their relationships to the projection of US global power and the shaping of US cultural identity since the end of World War II. As she puts it, her goal is to address the absence of culture from discussions of the history of US imperialism, the absence of empire from discussions of US culture, and the absence of the US from discussions of postcolonial imperialism.
Among her subjects, all of which she treats deftly and with attentive detail, are: Amiri Baraka's "A Black Mass," the Israeli military raid on Entebbe, the 1977 John Frankenheimer movie "Black Friday," the tour of King Tutankhamen's artifacts through the United States during 1977-1978, Hal Lindsey's "The Late Great Planet Earth," the rise of the Moral Majority, the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1980 and its obsessive coverage in the US media, the prevalence of military revenge movies in the 1980s like "Navy Seals" and "Delta Force," Betty Mahmoody's book "Not without My Daughter," and the Gulf War.
I found particularly compelling her discussion of 1950s biblical epics, such as "Ben-Hur" and "The Ten Commandments." The recent controversy over "The Passion of the Christ" is put into definite context when you see how "The Ten Commandments" was received (and what purposes it served) when it was released in 1956.
A look into American Politics through literature and popular thought...
16 Dec 2008
Format:Paperback
I chose this book to pair it with Natasha Zaretsky's book "No Way Home" for my final paper and it helped me to make the connection between how American Foriegn Policy is formed by way of the media and the American public interest in the Middle East Region. To learn more about how American policies are shaped regarding the Middle East region, I suggest that you read this book.
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