''Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present'', a history of American involvement in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

Michael Oren Michael Bornstein Oren (; born Michael Scott Bornstein; May 20, 1955) is an American-Israeli diplomat, writer, and politician. He is a former Israeli ambassador to the United States (2009–2013), former member of the Knesset for the Kul ...

, was published by W.W. Norton & Co. in 2007 and quickly became a New York Times bestseller. The ''Power'' in the title refers to the United States' military, diplomatic and financial strength to pursue its interests in the Middle East. ''Faith'', in the words of Oren, refers to "impact of religion in the shaping of American attitudes and policies toward the Middle East." And ''fantasy'' refers to the image Americans themselves shaped of the Middle East. The

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

version is performed by Norman Dietz.Publishers Weekly Review
, Publishers Weekly, July 30, 2007

Thesis

In Oren's narrative, the present resembles the past. The new American republic was immediately forced to formulate a Middle East policy, and the issues were not very different from the issues America faces in the Middle East today.Halkin, Hillel.
Power, Faith, and Fantasy by Michael B. Oren
." '' Commentary'', January 2007. In Oren's own words: " ontemporaryAmerican policy- makers, it will be shown, wrestled with many of the same challenges in the area faced by their ... predecessors and similarly strove to reconcile their strategic and ideological interests. Mythic images of the Middle East, meanwhile, remained a mainstay of American popular culture. ... The objective f this final sectionis to enable Americans to read about the fighting in Iraq and hear the echoes of the Barbary wars and Operation Torch he code name for the American landing in North Africa in World War IIor to follow presidential efforts to mediate between Palestinians and Israelis and see the shadows of Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson." Hillel Halkin, writing in '' Commentary'', finds one aspect of this thesis compelling. He argues, with Oren, that the role of

idealism Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...

in American foreign policy may be unique. "America alone (or so it can be claimed), in addition to pursuing, sometimes ruthlessly, its national interests like any other country, has frequently acted with the best interests of others in mind. One can compile a long list of major American foreign-policy decisions, by no means all of them regarding the Middle East—entering World War I, the Marshall Plan, intervening in Bosnia and Kosovo, etc.—that arguably had, alongside their purely pragmatic calculations, a genuine element of idealism, without which it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to obtain support for them from the American public. More than the citizens of other democracies, Americans really do expect their governments to be a force for good in the world."

References

{{reflist

External links

Presentation by Oren on ''Power, Faith, and Fantasy'', January 15, 2007

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

Presentation by Oren on ''Power, Faith, and Fantasy'', September 29, 2007

2007 non-fiction books 21st-century history books Books about foreign relations of the United States History books about the Middle East History books about the United States