1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910807634503321

Autore

McAlister Melani <1962->

Titolo

Epic encounters [[electronic resource] ] : culture, media, and U.S. interests in the Middle East since 1945 / / Melani McAlister

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2005

ISBN

1-280-49194-9

9786613587176

0-520-93201-3

Edizione

[Updated ed., with a post-9/11 chapter.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (430 p.)

Collana

American crossroads

Disciplina

327.56073/09/045

Soggetti

Mass media and public opinion - United States

Public opinion - United States

Middle East Foreign relations United States

United States Foreign relations Middle East

Middle East Foreign public opinion, American

United States Civilization 1945-

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references, filmography and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface To The 2005 Edition -- Preface To The First Edition -- Introduction -- 1. "Benevolent Supremacy" -- 2. The Middle East In African American Cultural Politics, 1955-1972 -- 3. King Tut, Commodity Nationalism, And The Politics Of Oil, 1973-1979 -- 4. The Good Fight -- 5. Iran, Islam, And The Terrorist Threat, 1979-1989 -- 6. Military Multiculturalism In The Gulf War And After, 1990-1999 -- Conclusion<subtitle 9/11 and After: Snapshots on the Road to Empire -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Filmography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Epic Encounters examines how popular culture has shaped the ways Americans define their "interests" in the Middle East. In this innovative book-now brought up-to-date to include 9/11 and the Iraq war-Melani McAlister argues that U.S. foreign policy, while grounded in material and military realities, is also developed in a cultural context. American understandings of the region are framed by narratives that draw on religious belief, news media accounts, and popular culture. This



remarkable and pathbreaking book skillfully weaves lively and accessible readings of film, media, and music with a rigorous analysis of U.S. foreign policy, race politics, and religious history. The new chapter, titled "9/11 and After: Snapshots on the Road to Empire," considers and brilliantly analyzes five images that have become iconic: (1) New York City firemen raising the American flag out of the rubble of the World Trade Center, (2) the televised image of Osama bin-Laden, (3) Afghani women in burqas, (4) the statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled in Baghdad, and (5) the hooded and wired prisoner in Abu Ghraib. McAlister's singular achievement is to illuminate the contexts of these five images both at the time they were taken and as they relate to current events, an accomplishment all the more remarkable since-to paraphrase her new preface-we are today struggling to look backward at something that is still rushing ahead.