America’s Arab Nationalists: From the Ottoman Revolution to the Rise of Hitler

America’s Arab Nationalists focuses in on the relationship between Arab nationalists and Americans in the struggle for independence in an era when idealistic Americans could see the Arab nationalist struggle as an expression of their own values. In the first three decades of the twentieth century (from the 1908 Ottoman revolution to the rise of Hitler), important and influential Americans, including members of the small Arab-American community, intellectually, politically and financially participated in the construction of Arab nationalism. This book tells the story of a diverse group of people whose contributions are largely unknown to the American public.

The role Americans played in the development of Arab nationalism has been largely unexplored by historians, making this an important and original contribution to scholarship. This volume is of great interest to students and academics in the field, though the narrative style is accessible to anoyone interested in Arab nationalism, the conflict between Zionists and Palestinians, and the United States’ relationship with the Arab world.

Aaron Berman is Professor Emeritus of History at Hampshire College. He received his doctorate in American History from Columbia University. His first book, Nazism, the Jews and American Zionism explained how American Jewry’s understanding of their own history shaped the Zionist response to the extermination of European Jewry. His research interests center on the history of nationalism (particularly Arab and Jewish nationalisms) and internationalism. For eleven years he served as Dean of Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Hampshire College.