Faith Misplaced by Ussama Makdisi

The two-hundred-year-long relationship between the Arab world and United States has been fraught with tension and resentment. What began in the nineteenth century as a favorable exchange of cultural understanding and economic opportunity deteriorated with America’s increasing interest in oil, and finally collapsed when America’s pushed for the legitimization of the State of Israel. In this provocative new book, Lebanese-American historian Ussama Makdisi explores America’s fractured relationship with the Arab world, and offers policy recommendations that can lead to its repair.