America in an Arab Mirror: Images of America in Arabic Travel Literature: An Anthology [Hardcover]

Kamal Abdel-Malek (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2000

This distinguished anthology presents for the first time in English travel essays by Arabic writers who have visited America in the second half of the century. The view of America which emerges from these accounts is at once fascinating and illuminating, but never monolithic. The writers hail from a variety of viewpoints, regions, and backgrounds, so their descriptions of America differently engage and revise Arab pre-conceptions of Americans and the West. The country figures as everything from the unchanging Other, the very antithesis of the Arab self, to the seductive female, to the Other who is both praiseworthy and reprehensible.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

"To see ourselves as others see us" can be a surprising, annoying, even humbling experience. The mutual insights and misapprehensions of Near Easterners and Europeans were gathered by veteran scholar Bernard Lewis in A Middle East Mosaic. Here, Abdel-Malek, an Arabic and Islamic studies professor at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, selects Arab travelers' descriptions of the U.S. (many first available here in English) over the last century. Abdel-Malek groups his selections around themes, including America as "the unchanged other," "the seductive female," "the dream and the reality," and "an example to emulate"; separate chapters are devoted to the observations of Arab women travelers, and to Arab writers' satirical commentary. In addition to a brief preface, the editor supplies headnotes that identify each author and place their comments in context. Work and play, ideas and practicalities are among the subjects addressed; one Egyptian-American businessman urges his readers to learn to dance before they immigrate to America! An instructive collection in a globalizing world. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"An instructive collection in a globalizing world." --Booklist

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1 edition (July 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312229631
• ISBN-13: 978-0312229634
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,937,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Short but interesting, August 28, 2006

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Ulfilas (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: America in an Arab Mirror: Images of America in Arabic Travel Literature: An Anthology (Hardcover)

I bought this book in order to read the piece by Sayyid Qutb, who is considered the intellectual father of Al-Qaeda. Although his observations on America were naive, they are not completely without merit and often display valuable insights. Other pieces range from discussions that are carefully reasoned and balanced to those that are outright attacks. Others are comic and satirical. Really, reading this book left me wanting more of these sort of articles to read. If only this book had been longer! Many of the articles were too short, probably because the translators did not want to spend their time translating more articles.