Envisioning the Arab Future Modernization in US-Arab Relations, 1945–1967 Global and International History Series

Decades before 9/11 and the 'Arab Spring', US and Arab elites contended over the future of the Middle East. Through unprecedented research in Arabic and English, Envisioning the Arab Future details how Americans and Arabs - nationalists, Islamists, and communists - disputed the meaning of modernization within a shared set of Cold War-era concepts. Faith in linear progress, the idea that society functioned as a 'system', and a fascination with speed united officials and intellectuals who were otherwise divided by language and politics. This book assesses the regional implications of US power while examining a range of topics that transcends the Arab-Israeli conflict, including travel, communities, gender, oil, agriculture, Iraqi nationalism, Nasser's Arab Socialism, and hijackings in both the United States and the Middle East. By uncovering a shared history of modernization between Arabs and Americans, Envisioning the Arab Future challenges assumptions about a 'clash of civilizations' and profoundly reinterprets the antecedents of today's crises.

Introduction. The 'history of the future'; 1. The age of speed; 2. Imperial legacies; 3. City of the future; 4. Yeoman farmers; 5. People's court; 6. New men; 7. Changing course; Conclusion. A better future; Bibliography; Index.

Nathan J. Citino is Associate Professor of History at Rice University, Houston. Dr Citino received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University and completed an Arabic program at the University of Chicago. He is the author of From Arab Nationalism to OPEC: Eisenhower, King Sa'ud, and the Making of US-Saudi Relations (2010) and articles published in journals including Diplomacy and Statecraft, the International Journal of Middle East Studies, and Cold War History. A former associate editor of Diplomatic History, Dr Citino is the recipient of fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham.