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 shaped their responses to world events. In Sacred Interests, Karine V. Walther excavates the deep history of American Islamophobia and Orientalism, 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 ... More

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 shaped their responses to world events. In Sacred Interests, Karine V. Walther excavates the deep history of American Islamophobia and Orientalism, 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, popularly called the Eastern Question, 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 goes on to examine 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. In her analysis, she examines the role played by both state and non-state actors, including American missionaries, religious organizations, journalists, businessmen, academics, policy elites, colonial officials and diplomats in shaping these interactions. She also analyzes how the so-called Jewish Question in Europe shaped American and European policies in North Africa and the Ottoman Empire. 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.