Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East, 1945-2000

by Melani McAlister

In the last half of the twentieth century, cultural products--from films and news reports to museum exhibits and novels--profoundly shaped ideas about the relationship between Americans and the Middle East. In this innovative book, Melani McAlister explores the cultural history of political interests, arguing that U.S. encounters with the Middle East were influenced by both the presence of oil and the religious symbolism of the region. McAlister's richly textured study shows how culture functions as a social and historical force in shaping politics and identity. She skillfully weaves lively and accessible readings of popular culture with a rigorous analysis of U.S. foreign policy and the domestic politics of race.

McAlister begins by situating the postwar development of U.S.–Middle East relations, including the rise of anticolonialism and the establishment of the state of Israel. Subsequent chapters consider specific events and cultural texts such as the epic film The Ten Commandments, the King Tut museum exhibit, writings from the Black arts movement, the U.S.-Iranian hostage crisis, and the 1990–1991 Gulf War. In each of these cases, McAlister demonstrates how representations of the Middle East have been a site of struggle over both the nature of U.S. foreign policy and the construction of race, religion, and gender within the United States.

Truly interdisciplinary, this work will appeal to a wide audience as it illuminates the significant intersection of culture and politics that is at the heart of both nationalism and globalization.

Genres: History, Middle East, Nonfiction, Politics, American History, Grad School, Cultural Studies

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2001

Reviews

[Behzad · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting analysis of how cultural productions and the media actually "create" the images of the Middle East as the axis of evil.
The introduction shows why the Middle East becomes important for the United States (militaristic and strategic position; oil; Israel; and religious issues) and the later chapters study cinema and other media to show how the orient is created and shown to be an enemy to the west.
Chapter five - an analysis of the media and cultural images of the US embassy takeover in Iran - was especially interesting to me, since it focuses on the untold aspects of the incident.

[sadichha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the most rewarding books i've had the pleasure of consuming. Like trying to remove a coconut from a tree and open it with your bare hands, it can at times be a struggle. It's a really good thing that the election has provided us with a valuable toolkit to unpack this book with.

The whole time I was reading, I felt small air horns going off in the back of my head every time I heard a "republican phrase", which was #totallyvindicated when McAlister went into Bush Doctrine towards the end of the book.

With other texts I've read, the authors feel like they're pontifying endlessly, only to admit "well, it's just a theory", immediately undermining any sort of academic authority they may have established. McAlister is just...a boss. I honestly don't know how else to say it. Other books seemed to flounder for connections halfway through, or grasp at straws after exhausting all their academic lifting once the 40 page introduction had finished, but McAlister wove the text in a matter that seemed to say “I have so much authority on this, shut up, sit down, and listen”, and then she proved it.

Her usage of Said's Orientalism (mad props there, because she was like "while I don't agree, he's a useful tool. Did I say he? I meant his book. Academic lol") was so artful I actually cried while reading it. McAlister referenced texts that she immediately revealed as having good knowledge and problematic viewpoints, extracted the necessary knowledge, explained how the viewpoint was erroneous/based on another text that was similarly smart in some ways and dumb in others, and corrected the disavowal. Like????? Your fav could never.

By using these texts and going back in history to contextualize our interactions with the Middle East, McAlister highlights U.S. foreign policy, specifically that “foreign policy itself is a meaning making activity”. SHIT ON US, MELANI!! SHIT ALL OVER US!!

By exploring both the U.S. and other parties as singular entities (and then destroying that idea, because please, can a nation full of immigrants, women, people of color, and other religions really support a white male protestant agenda? Not without falling apart. Which is basically what happens to the mythos of the U.S. after the war starts), McAlister comes to the conclusion that the identity that brings everyone together is the culture of imperialism. Thus logic is stolen from the masses, a monkey man uses nonsense words to convince millions that Iraq had nukes, and war is levied against the Middle East. I'm sorry, did I say Iraq? I'm mixing up my ridiculous white presidents again. Who knows what they're convincing people of.

Honestly!! This book was written Pre-9/11! And it's still so relevant! Because we still have things to learn from America's mistakes, which are still having repercussions btw. “Nothing happens in isolation,” McAlister said in the conclusion. America doesn’t care enough to find out about the histories that inform our present. McAlister herself didn’t quite understand what she was doing when she wore a white armband, nor when she looked upon the Israeli flag.

This book is a fuckin must read. Take a sip babes.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is dense, and all in all will probably bore a good number of people, but if you're willing to work through it, all and all I think it's worthwhile. It draws some fascinating connections between popular culture and foreign policy, and shows (sometimes convincingly, other times perhaps a little less so) the way they play off and shape one another. And rather than simply focusing on current events, it slowly develops a picture of historical events, movements, media, and texts that have intersected and converged over more than a century to create the current constellation of American opinion and understanding of the Middle East. Definitely a must-read if you're interested in US-Middle East relations.

[sdw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read Melanie McAlister’s Epic Encounters because I had assigned it in an Introduction to American Studies class I was teaching this summer (2007). I had been intending to read it for some time, both because McAlister received her PhD from my department (inspiring a form of loyalty), and because I had heard *so* much about this book. It lived up to my expectations, and many of my students agreed that they were learned a great deal from the work despite the time required to read it.

McAlister’s work was published right before the infamous 9/11, and thus makes no mention of the event. The book succeeds in responding to Amy Kaplan’s challenge to examine US Empire in American Studies in addressing: “the absence of culture from the history of U.S. imperialism; the absence of empire from the study of American culture; and the absence of the United States from the postcolonial study of imperialism.”

McAlister’s work examines US popular cultures, specifically movies, and examines how visions of the Middle East are constructed. In doing so, she critiques Said’s Orientalism as a post-WII framework for understanding US constructions of the “Orient” on several grounds. First, she argues that orientalism implies an us vs them mentality that sees the West as a unifed whole and the East as a unified whole. It is problematic these days to speak of one America or one American culture. The United States’ conception of the Middle East is varied, as exemplified by her examination of “the Middle east as a signifier in African American political and religious identities between 1955 and 1972.” She likewise contends that US visions of the Middle East differentiate between nations. Finally, she argues that the Middle East is not only perceived as passive feminine in relationship to the masculine West. The US is constructed through the space of the private feminine home threatened by the masculine politicized Middle East (think of media representations of hostages through their family connections, rather than as government employees engaged in political work).

I found the way McAlister engaged the reading of cultural objects in a historical context particularly methodologically useful to my own work. She reads works from any given moment not as reflective of cultural meanings but as productive of those cultural meanings. Additionally, she points out that works from the same period, even from the same genre, may construct a diverse set of cultural meanings. She successfully demonstrates the importance of empire to the production of US culture, and the importance of US culture to the production of US empire, but within and without the United States.

For many, McAlister’s book will not be an easy read. But I think you will find it conceptually satisfying if you put in the time to really engage it. I would encourage you to rent the movies (or even just watch Trailers on You Tube) as she discusses particular works. It will help bring the points she makes alive.

[J.I.]

An analysis of American policy set beside popular culture, from movies such as the Ten Commandments to Delta force to pictures and postage stamps. McAlister argues that American policy is one often framed in terms of sexual politics, of masculine and feminine ideas and how we react to them. From feeling emasculated and feminized after Vietnam and the Iran hostage situations (and wanting to emulate Israel in their military victories and widely publicized anti-terrorist wins) to saving the brown women (as Spivak would put it) in Afghanistan. It is also, however, about how America appropriates as a way of dominating, appropriating culture, images and meanings and altering them to suit our needs.

This is no light read, heavy in footnotes and steeped in criticism, but it is still readable and interesting and while it is limited in its scope, it widely explores what it seeks to and is often insightful.

[Vivek · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent work of cultural history that examines the ways in which the Middle East has been perceived in the United States, by focusing on a few different events/subjects best described by the chapter titles:

Intro:Middle East Interests

1. "Benevolent Supremacy": The Biblical Epic at the Dawn of the American Century, 1947-1960

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: Israel after Vietnam, 1972-1980

5. Iran, Islam, and the Terrorist Threat, 1979-1989

6. Military Multiculturalism in the Gulf War and After, 1990-1999

Conclusion: 9/11 and After: Snapshots on the Road to Empire

[Zohra Star · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thorough research on Hollywood and its representation of the Middle East. Using it to write my dissertation. Talks about the Iran Hostage Crisis on TV (Great to teach or watch along with the Iranian American film by Ramin Serry, "Maryam").

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating connections between cultural production and foreign policy. Building strong cases for influence between cultural and political fields is super difficult, so I've got to say that I'm a bit overawed. Vapid speculation this is NOT. Very, very well put together.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two truly excellent chapters, on the development of the United States' relationship with Israel and the media coverage of the Iran Hostage Crisis.

[Kim]

very liberally biased book

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good synthesis of (popular) culture and political/economical forces. The King Tut chapter was fun. It's not often that we recognize the Egyptian civilization as "black."

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the title. That's what you learn.

[AJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

this b00k rulez!