American Orientalism

Douglas Little explores the stormy American relationship with the Middle East from World War II through the war in Iraq, focusing particularly on the complex and often inconsistent attitudes and interests that helped put the United States on a collision course with radical Islam early in the new millennium. After documenting the persistence of orientalist stereotypes in American popular culture, Little examines oil, Israel, and other aspects of U.S. policy. He concludes that a peculiar blend of arrogance and ignorance has led American officials to overestimate their ability to shape events in the Middle East from 1945 through the present day, and that it has been a driving force behind the Iraq war. For this updated third edition, Little covers events through 2007, including a new chapter on the Bush Doctrine, demonstrating that in many important ways, George W. Bush's Middle Eastern policies mark a sharp break with the past.

American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East since 1945
Douglas Little is professor of history at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is author of Malevolent Neutrality: The United States, Great Britain, and the Origins of the Spanish Civil War.
A study of revolutions, Middle East-style. . . . It is remarkable how much of the inside story [Little] has been able to obtain.
—"Times Literary Supplement"
Doug Little has produced not just a distinguished study, but perhaps the best book yet on the United States and the Middle East.
&#151Robert J. McMahon, University of Florida
Seldom has a book been more timely or essential than Douglas Little's essays on American policy in the Middle East.
—"Journal of American History"
This is a commendable work to all concerned with the Middle East.
—"Virginia Quarterly Review"
"Little provides literary flair, both in his references to fiction and in his own writing style. . . . A solid collection of essays dealing with multiple facets of U.S. relations with the Middle East and offers a bold and simple thesis about American attitudes toward the region."
-- "Journal of Cold War Studies"