Crescent Obscured: The United States and the Muslim World, 1776-1815 / Edition 1

by Robert Allison

Overview

From the beginning of the colonial period to the recent conflicts in the Middle East, encounters with the Muslim world have helped Americans define national identity and purpose. Focusing on America's encounter with the Barbary states of North Africa from 1776 to 1815, Robert Allison traces the perceptions and mis-perceptions of Islam in the American mind as the new nation constructed its ideology and system of government.

"A powerful ending that explains how the experience with the Barbary states compelled many Americans to look inward . . . with increasing doubts about the institution of slavery." —David W. Lesch, Middle East Journal

"Allison's incisive and informative account of the fledgling republic's encounter with the Muslim world is a revelation with a special pertinence to today's international scene." —Richard W. Bulliet, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"This book should be widely read. . . . Allison's study provides a context for understanding more recent developments, such as America's tendency to demonize figures like Iran's Khumaini, Libya's Qaddafi, and Iraq's Saddam." —Richard M. Eaton, Eighteenth Century Studies

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900226014905
Publication date:	07/15/2000
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Robert J. Allison is chair of the Department of History, university archivist, and director of American Studies at Suffolk University.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. American Policy Toward the Muslim World
2. The United States and the Specter of Islam
3. A Peek Into the Seraglio: Americans, Sex, and the Muslim World
4. American Slavery and the Muslim World
5. American Captives in the Muslim World
6. The Muslim World and American Benevolence
7. American Consuls in the Muslim World
8. Remembering the Tripolitan War
9. James Riley, the Return of the Captive
Notes
Index