Americans have always shown a fascination with the people, customs,
and legends of the "East--witness the popularity of the stories of
the
Arabian Nights, the performances of Arab belly dancers
and acrobats, the feats of turban-wearing vaudeville magicians, and
even the antics of fez-topped Shriners. In this captivating volume,
Susan Nance provides a social and cultural history of this highly
popular genre of Easternized performance in America up to the Great
Depression.
According to Nance, these traditions reveal how a broad spectrum of
Americans, including recent immigrants and impersonators, behaved
as producers and consumers in a rapidly developing capitalist
economy. In admiration of the
Arabian Nights, people
creatively reenacted Eastern life, but these performances were also
demonstrations of Americans' own identities, Nance argues. The
story of Aladdin, made suddenly rich by rubbing an old lamp, stood
as a particularly apt metaphor for how consumer capitalism might
benefit each person. The leisure, abundance, and contentment that
many imagined were typical of Eastern life were the same
characteristics used to define "the American dream."
The recent success of Disney's
Aladdin movies suggests that
many Americans still welcome an interpretation of the East as a
site of incredible riches, romance, and happy endings. This
abundantly illustrated account is the first by a historian to
explain why and how so many Americans sought out such cultural
engagement with the Eastern world long before geopolitical concerns
became paramount.