The Arabists: The Romance of an American EliteFree Press, 1993 - 333 pages Here is the untold story of an inbred, gifted, and powerful elite of families and friends who dominated America's relations with the Middle East for over a century. Known to Foreign Service colleagues as "the Arabists", these were the men and women who had spent much of their lives, usually with their families, living in the Arab world as diplomats, military attaches, intelligence agents, and educators. Descended from the missionaries, scholars, and explorers who first ventured into the region - an offshoot of the WASP elite that ruled America during the nineteenth century - the Arabists were an exclusive caste linked by complex social, institutional, and family ties. Thoroughly at home in Arab cultures and often enjoying relations of longstanding intimacy with the monarchs and ruling elites of Arab countries, these American expatriates lived a charmed lifestyle that has become a source of intense nostalgia among the Arabists themselves as well as a symbol of their romance with Arab culture and increasing isolation from American society and interests. The Arabists dominated American policy and shaped our perception of the Arab world throughout the colonial and interwar periods. But after World War II, the diplomatic corps began to change, reflecting the country's new ethnic and social diversity. Kaplan describes the impact of this change within the State Department, showing how the advent of Irish Catholics, Jews, and Harvard-trained regional experts created internal pressures that slowly loosened the Arabists' grip on Middle East diplomacy in the postwar period. Drawing on interviews, memoirs, and other official and private sources, Kaplan reconstructs the hundred-year history of theArabist elite, and traces their decline against the background of this social transformation. |
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Page 42
... Moslem laws against infidels , as regards their being forbidden to ride or carry arms or wear fine clothes in public ... Moslems to Christ . Nevertheless , like the others , Zwemer and Cantine established a moral universe of a different ...
... Moslem laws against infidels , as regards their being forbidden to ride or carry arms or wear fine clothes in public ... Moslems to Christ . Nevertheless , like the others , Zwemer and Cantine established a moral universe of a different ...
Page 75
... Moslem sheikh ( another student ) ... Jews were not uncommon at AUB in the 1930s . The Tel Aviv sym- phony performed occasionally on campus . The music in daily chapel , re- membered so vividly from boyhood by U.S. diplomat Talcott ...
... Moslem sheikh ( another student ) ... Jews were not uncommon at AUB in the 1930s . The Tel Aviv sym- phony performed occasionally on campus . The music in daily chapel , re- membered so vividly from boyhood by U.S. diplomat Talcott ...
Page 187
... Moslem tensions like dynamite in a dry barn - put the political attitudes of the missionary - AUB community into stark relief , especially after the June 6 , 1982 , Israeli invasion of Lebanon , which had the effect of helping the ...
... Moslem tensions like dynamite in a dry barn - put the political attitudes of the missionary - AUB community into stark relief , especially after the June 6 , 1982 , Israeli invasion of Lebanon , which had the effect of helping the ...
Contents
Three generations Three wars Three marriages | 1 |
Dream | 11 |
Home to Lebanon | 13 |
Copyright | |
17 other sections not shown
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Akins ambassador American Arab world Arabists arrived assistant Atherton Baghdad became become began Beirut Bill Bliss born British called career Christian close College Coon culture deal Department diplomats Dodge early Egypt Eilts embassy experience explains fact force Foreign Service French Glaspie going hands head Henderson Henry Kissinger Horan House interests Iran Iraq Iraqi Israel Israeli Jewish Jews John kind King Kissinger knew known Kurds language later Lawrence learned Lebanon lived meeting Middle East military mission missionaries Moslem never officer operation Parker peace Persian political president Protestant region relations Saddam Saudi Arabia says secretary Seelye served Sisco staff Sudan Syria talk thing told turn United University wanted Washington Weaver Western Wiley writes