Epic Encounters

Melani McAlister’s book, Epic Encounters, focuses on relations between the United States and the “Middle East” from the end of World War II to the turn of the century. She presents two main factors that influenced the US’s foreign policy there: first, the presence of oil, and second, personal claims of the American public to the land’s religious origins. In that time period, the US has “vacillated between two poles: distance, othering, and containment define the first; affiliation, appropriation, and co-optation constitute the second” (2). She also puts forward the idea that “moral geographies” (4) are crucial in the development of human classifications, and thus in the creation of politics and popular culture.

One of the central aspects of the Middle East is that it is the site of the “Holy Lands” for Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Because it is seen as a land of religious origin, many Americans feel claims to its history and geography. Because of this, the “biblical epic”, even if critically trashed, has always been a popular form of entertainment. It also became important to black Muslims during the civil rights movement, as they began to positively identify with the Arab populace. However, it is interesting to note that black Muslims also sided with Israel, because (as put forth by McAlister) they felt they could strongly relate to the exodus described in the old testament; just as the Israelites left Egypt, so did the Nation of Islam seek to leave America and create its own country.
McAlister does note that America did a very ambiguous and changing job of actually defining the Middle East and its peoples. At different times, Arabs have been grouped as one or into their different nationalities, although they are often not separated from the status of “Islamic”; that is, America often uses the terms “Arab” and “Muslim” interchangeable. Their relation to Africans has also been hard to define, especially for Egypt, which bridges the two geographical areas. Later, especially after the Iranian hostage crisis of the early 80s, America has viewed Islam as an entity which mixes faith and politics and expresses both through violence. This has only been increased as wars have become mass media events, often portrayed with very strong biases.

One other major concept that McAlister explores is that of “benevolent supremacy”, which has basically been the United State’s official stance on its colonial acts. In order to separate itself from the old colonial powers of Britain and France, after WWII the US chose to side with the countries that were just gaining independence. In this way, it managed to side with freedom and maintain a level of affiliation with the emerging Middle Eastern nations that protected its own interest in foreign oil.



I found it very interesting to read an account of the United State’s dealings with the Middle East that was written just before 9-11 (I link plus’d the book, and sadly received the old version without the new chapter, though I believe the rest is the same). I feel that 9-11 did a lot to worsen America’s view of the Middle East and its people. Anti-Arab sentiments went through the roof, and the entire area is viewed more than ever as one of extreme religious fanatacism. Also, it is viewed again as one homogenous area, consisting of Arabs and Israel.

However, I found Epic Encounters to be overly verbose; it is important to be specific in academic writing, but often McAlister would unnecessarily complicate her sentences. Also, she went into a lot of detail about the facts of various situations that were not necessarily relevant to her actual analyses. I found it useful that she reviewed all of the major points, since I did not live through that time, but I feel that she often went into too much depth.
I would also have liked it if she had related many aspects of the book to race rather than politics; even when she spoke about race, it was from a political standpoint. I felt that since race and nationality are so much at play here, she should have analyzed them more.



One of the phenomenon’s that I found interesting was the “biblical epic”, such as the Ten Commandments (which, young as I am, I had heard of). What immediately came to my mind as a modern example is Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. I remember the controversies, and the media portrayals of extremely religious Christians lined up to see the film, despite its large amounts of blood and mixed reviews (it only has a rottentomatoes rating of 50%). On the other side, I thought of The DaVinci Code. It is a mystery, but sets itself within places and events mentioned in the Bible. It also stirred up controversy, but in different ways.