Introduction: The crossroads of Empire -- Private knowledge: American missionaries, the inquiry, and the First World War in the Middle East, 1917-1922 -- Wartime expertise: the Office of Strategic Services, the Army Specialized Training Program, and World War II in the Middle East, 1940-1945 -- A time of national emergency: the national security establishment, academic institutions, and the origins of Middle East studies, 1947-1957 -- America's sheet anchors: creating Cold War universities in the Middle East, 1922-1962 -- (In)Visible government: the National Defense Education Act and the establishment of Middle East studies, 1950-1967 -- Modernizing the Middle East: constructing traditional society and expertise, 1950-1973 -- Privatizing knowledge: think tanks, Middle East expertise, and the decline of Area Studies, 1973-1988 -- Empire and its limitations: neoconservatism, the Bush Doctrine, and the Global War on Terror, 1989-2009 -- Epilogue: America and the Arab Spring.
Summary:
America's Dream Palace examines the relationship between U.S. foreign policy and the origins and expansion of Middle East studies and expertise from World War I to the Global War on Terror. It analyzes the transition from the private knowledge of American missionaries and Orientalist scholars adapted for government use in the First and Second World Wars to the privatized knowledge of think tanks with close ties to the U.S. national security establishment in the late and post-Cold War periods. The book draws on extensive research at national, university, and foundation archives in the United States, the United Kingdom, Lebanon, and Egypt. It demonstrates that the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958 ultimately led to the growth and diversification of Middle East studies. An unintended consequence of this expansion was strained relations between academia and the government, which contributed to, and was compounded by, decreased federal funding for area studies. By the 1980s, these factors led to a perceived decline in the field, while think tanks garnered increased attention and influence. The author contrasts the post-September 11 expansion of the national security bureaucracy and the predominance of think tanks with attempts to marginalize university-based Middle East studies centers and scholars.-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.