| Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East Since1945 Volume 6 Updated Edition Contributor(s): McAlister, Melani (Author) |
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ISBN: 0520244990 ISBN-13: 9780520244993 Publisher: University of California Press OUR PRICE: $34.60 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: July 2005 Annotation: "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. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Media Studies - Political Science | International Relations - General - History | Middle East - General |
| Dewey: 327.560 |
| LCCN: 2004059882 |
| Lexile Measure: 1570 |
| Series: American Crossroads |
| Physical Information: 1.03" H x 6.32" W x 9.06" (1.31 lbs) 426 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 20th Century - Chronological Period - 21st Century - Cultural Region - Middle East |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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. |