Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present.
By Michael B. Oren
Grade B+
This book is a sweeping tour of the major interactions between the US and the Middle East. Apparently, nothing has changed. The only way the US can get things done there is by force, it seems. And the US seems to be ambivalent about using it, torn as it is between idealism and real politic. What limits the book is it’s narrative structure. It moves steadily from the Barbary Wars through 9-11 examining the themes of power, faith and fantasy, but it doesn’t offer an overriding interpretive guide for the interaction. Simply that this is how it was. That said, it is a necessary book. A good reminder that try as we may, we ain’t gonna change the Middle East.
