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 began to shape their responses to world events. In
Sacred
Interests, Karine V. Walther excavates the deep history of
American Islamophobia, 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, 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 examines 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. 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.