Oren - Power, faith, and power America in the Middle East, 1776 to the present

[This] book is a landmark achievement. This is an absolutely vital work that will change the way Americans look at their role in the Middle East and beyond. The story is riveting and the research encyclopedic.

Walter Russell Mead

Michael Orens Power, Faith, and Fantasy fills a real need. Americans have been involved in the Middle East throughout their history, but no one until Oren has documented that involvement so thoroughly and so vividly. Highly recommended.

John Lewis Gaddis, Yale University

If you think Americas entanglement in the Middle East began with Roosevelt and Truman, Michael Orens deeply researched and brilliantly written history will be a revelation to you, as it was to me. With its cast of fascinating charactersearnest missionaries, maverick converts, wide-eyed tourists and even a nineteenth-century George Bush Power, Faith, and Fantasy is not only a terrific read, it is also proof that you dont really understand an issue until you know its history.

Niall Ferguson, author of Colossus and The War of the World

[ Power, Faith, and Fantasy ] is indeed a tour de force, brilliantly researched and written, and extremely interesting, as well as informative.

Henry A. Kissinger

As the title of his book Power, Faith, and Fantasy suggests, relations with that largely Islamic region have been driven by a mixture of motivespolitical, military, economic, theological, and romantic. Soldiers, adventurers, diplomats, merchants, missionaries, and tourists are principal characters in the rich historical drama that Orens book constructs. [A] magisterial account.

Steven Kellman, San Antonio Current

Of considerable interest in that difficult time: well argued, and full of telling moments.

Kirkus Reviews

This engrossing, informative, and frequently surprising survey of U.S. involvement in the Middle East over the past 230 years is particularly timely. Oren is at his best when describing American involvement in the twentieth century as the U.S. replaced Britain as the dominant imperial power in the area. Appealing to both scholars and general readers.

Jay Freeman, Library Journal

Elegant and engaging. Had George W. Bush been able to read this magnificent book before he launched Operation Iraqi Freedomhe might well have realized just how dangerous it has been to shoot first and ask questions later in the Middle East over the past 200 years.

Douglas Little, Foreign Affairs

Oren concludes that the American presence and exercise of power brought far more beneficence than avarice to the Middle East and caused significantly less harm than good. Those who read his magisterial study of American interaction with the Middle East through two centuries will find themselves hard pressed to disagree.

Ronald Radosh, Weekly Standard

Orens is a fluent, comprehensive narrative of two centuries of entanglement.

Publishers Weekly

To understand the present and make an informed judgment about the future, it is vital to read history, and Michael B. Oren has gifted us with an extraordinary look at America in the Middle East.

Bookviews.com

Extensively researched. The book is impressive for its broad strokesanalyzing 230 years of political, military and cultural history with wisdom and appreciation of complexityand its untold details, whether portraits of little-known figures or surprising findings. And, Orens approach sheds much light on current events. That he is also a novelist is evident in his prose; hes skillful in making characters come alive and keeping readers engaged.

Sandee Brawarsky, Jewish Week

As a comprehensive examination of the Unites States association with the Middle East, his much-needed book fills a gap in the literature. This is a wonderfully rich and thought-provoking history. Highly recommended for all public and academic libraries.

Library Journal

Even at more than 700 pages, the book leaves a reader wanting more. And because the detailed text reads so fluidly, all of that information is palatable, and much of it is downright gripping. With Orens survey as a guide, any reader can become grounded in the realities of the vast Middle East.

Steve Weinberg, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Power, Faith, and Fantasy provides a rich and complex context for assessing Americas embattled role in the Middle East today.

Lawrence Grossman, The New Leader

Oren knows how to tell a story, turn a phrase and tweak a delightful detail.

Glenn Altschuler, Baltimore Sun

There is no better introduction to the history of U.S. involvement in the Middle East than this highly readable book.

Paul Collins, Sydney Morning Herald

Oren provides not an exhaustive study of recent Middle East history but rather an indispensable overview of its crucial turning points and trends.

Jack Fischel, Courier Mail

Because there is no other book with such a sweeping view of the subject, the vast cast of characters Oren presents and the exhaustively researched tales of the way they played on each other will shape our thinking about America and the Middle East for years. For now Power, Faith, and Fantasy is the best history we have of the history weve had, and an indispensable guide from point A to point Z.

Christopher Dickey, Newsweek

Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present , Michael B. Orens brilliant, sweeping account of Americas considerably longer, vastly more complex entanglement in the region is a much-needed antidote, a fuller picture of the motivations behind an engagement that began in the very infancy of the republic, when Israel was a mere dream and the combustion engine not even a blueprint. This is a majestically told story, its grand themes brought to life by a succession of riveting characters.

Gerard Baker, The Times (London)

Mr. Oren goes on to list almost a dozen titles, some very highly regarded, on America and the Middle East that have fallen short of providing the full sweep of Americas centuries-old engagement with the Middle East in all of its military, economic, and cultural aspects. This is exactly what he provides, and much of the pleasure of working through the book is realizing how well he does it. An abundance of little stories and vignettes, persons and personalities, touching on all these themes make up Mr. Orens narrative. Tosay this book is timely is only to say that all well-written history is timely. As captivating as many of these stories are, the real worth of the book comes only when the reader takes it as a whole. A subtle and refreshing assumption about the importance of history and its relationship to the present underlies every page. Mr. Oren has made a significant and readable contribution to the understanding of the historic relationship of America with the Middle East. It is a book worth seeking out.

David A. Smith, Washington Times

One of the most important books on the subject to be published in this or any other year. Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present by Israeli historian Michael Oren fills a void that has long existed in the historiography of the Middle East. Until the release of this beautifully written and meticulously researched volume this month, there simply was no comprehensive history of American involvement in the region. Orens achievement is must-reading for policymakers and the general public alike. In an era in which global terror based in the Middle East is the primary challenge to the survival of democracy, Power, Faith, and Fantasy ought to be read and understood by as many Americans as possible.

Jonathan S. Tobin, Jerusalem Post

In his magisterial history of the relationship between the United States and the Middle East, Michael Oren provides an exhaustively researched and compellingly told exercise in dj vu. Orens engrossing narrative reads like a whos who of American history. Even the historical footnotes are fascinating. Oren is a wonderful storyteller. The ability to move from minute-by-minute chronicling to sketching the grand sweep of history is no easy feat, but he does so with elegance and a flair for the dramatic.