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.

About the Author
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.

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

""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

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

""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

""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] superb book. . . . Provides a deeper understanding of U.S. approaches to the Islamic world. Highly recommended."" - Choice

""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

""Karine Walther provides us with a study of a topic that is at once historically resonant and urgent in its contemporary applicability."" - H-Net

""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

""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



Book Information
ISBN 9781469645582
Author Karine Walther
Format Paperback
Page Count 480
Imprint The University of North Carolina Press
Publisher The University of North Carolina Press
Weight(grams) 685g