Sacred Interests: The United States and the Islamic World, 1821-1921

by Karine V. Walther

Overview

Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as Americans increasingly came into contact with the Islamic world, U.S. diplomatic, cultural, political, and religious beliefs about Islam began to shape their responses to world events. In Sacred Interests, Karine V. Walther excavates the deep history of American Islamophobia, showing how negative perceptions of Islam and Muslims shaped U.S. foreign relations from the Early Republic to the end of World War I.

Beginning with the Greek War of Independence in 1821, Walther illuminates reactions to and involvement in the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, the efforts to protect Jews from Muslim authorities in Morocco, American colonial policies in the Philippines, and American attempts to aid Christians during the Armenian Genocide. Walther examines the American role in the peace negotiations after World War I, support for the Balfour Declaration, and the establishment of the mandate system in the Middle East. The result is a vital exploration of the crucial role the United States played in the Islamic world during the long nineteenth century--an interaction that shaped a historical legacy that remains with us today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469625409
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	09/21/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	480
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Karine Walther is associate professor of history at the School of Foreign Service in Qatar. She holds a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University, a Maitrise and Licence in Sociology from the University of Paris VIII, and a B.A. in American studies from the University of Texas at Austin.
Karine Walther is an Assistant Professor of History at the School of Foreign Service in Qatar. She holds a PhD in history from Columbia University, a Maitrise and Licence in Sociology from the University of Paris VIII and a BA in American Studies from the University of Texas, Austin.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Delving into a relatively little-known field, Karine V. Walther recovers an important period of the United States' history and its relations with the Islamic world. Sacred Interests is a very important book.—Julian Go, Boston University

Editorial Reviews

An excellent, detailed and well-constructed introduction to an important subject.—Times Literary Supplement

[A] superb book. . . . Provides a deeper understanding of U.S. approaches to the Islamic world. Highly recommended.—Choice

Its transnational breadth, refined scope, and authorial care make Sacred Interests essential reading for scholars and students of race, religion, and empire.—Journal of American History

A powerful book about the ways in which many nineteenth-century Americans sought to convert and reform, colonize and control Muslims throughout the world.—Diplomatic History

Walther's excellent new study is the first overview of American relations with the Islamic World in the years between the Barbary Wars and world War II.—Review of Middle East Studies

An important study that deserves to be widely read. . . . Walther has uncovered the ideological and rhetorical foundations of the recrudescent Islamophobia today.—American Historical Review

Illuminates a series of transnational engagements which helped shape U.S. foreign policy . . . and which reveal the roots of a persistent racialization of Islam in America today.—Religion in American History

A well-documented investigation of relations between the United States and the Islamic world during the nineteenth century.—Journal of American Culture

Scholars are now equipped with a fuller picture of America's relationship with the broader Islamic world.—Journal of the Society for Contemporary Thought and the Islamic World

From the Publisher