Sacred Interests - by Karine V Walther (Paperback)

About the Book

"In Sacred Interests, Karine V. Walther excavates the deep history of Americans' Islamophobic fixation on how Muslims should be governed, controlled, converted, and colonized, showing how these ideas shaped American foreign relations from the early republic to the end of the Armenian Genocide in 1921. Beginning with the Barbary Wars, Walther illuminates reactions to and involvement in the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, the efforts to protect Christians and Jews from Muslim authorities in Northern Africa, colonization of the Philippines, and the Armenian Genocide. Even in instances where the U.S. government was not formally involved, American missionaries and activists played crucial roles in these events, drawing conclusions and lessons that they would pass on and apply to subsequent interventions. Americans' interest in Islam abroad became critical to a larger American narrative: diplomatic, cultural, political, and religious beliefs about Islam and Muslims hardened and became self-fulfilling as Americans continued to encounter Muslims throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries" --

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

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

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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

About the Author

Karine Walther is associate professor of history at the School of Foreign Service in Qatar. She holds a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University, a Maîtrise and Licence in Sociology from the University of Paris VIII, and a B.A. in American studies from the University of Texas at Austin.