Power, Faith, and Fantasy

America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present

By: Michael B. Oren

Narrated by: Norman Dietz

Length: 27 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

This is the first comprehensive history of America's involvement in the Middle East, from George Washington to George W. Bush.

From the first cannonballs fired by American warships at North African pirates to the conquest of Falluja by the Marines, and from the early American explorers who probed the sources of the Nile to the diplomats who strove for Arab-Israeli peace, the United States has been dramatically involved in the Middle East. For well over two centuries, American statesmen, merchants, and missionaries, both men and women, have had a profound impact on the shaping of this crucial region. Yet their story has never been told. Until now.

Drawing on thousands of government documents and personal letters, this audiobook reconstructs the diverse and remarkable ways in which Americans have interacted with this alluring yet often hostile land stretching from Morocco to Iran and from the Persian Gulf to the Bosporus. Covering over 230 years of history, Power, Faith, and Fantasy is an indispensable work for anyone interested in understanding the roots of America's Middle East involvement today.

©2007 Michael B. Oren (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"Engaging....a fluent, comprehensive narrative of two centuries of entanglement." (Publishers Weekly)

Very pleasantly surprised...

Based on the sample provided I thought I might be wasting my money because the narrative style didn't do much for me. After making it through the introduction and the very first chapter, the story became very engrossing and the narration very fitting for the subject matter. I've not listened to the full book yet, but I'm giving it 4 stars for several reasons.......the narration can make or break an audiobook for me, and I am pleasantly surprised in that area after about 10 hours of listening. Second, the book itself is very enlightening. I can't speak for the full book at this point, but so far its well worth the money and I'll probably pick up the book too.

Thoughtful and balanced

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Oren explains the rich history of interactions that the United States (officially and through private citizens) has had with the people and governments of the middle east. His portrayal seems balanced and shows both the good will and the popular misperceptions of the region in the eyes of the people of the United States.

How can diplomatic history be rightwing?

This book gives a detailed account of diplomatic history between USA and the middle east, as well as factors that might have influenced the decision makers, however the book was written in a standpoint of American moral superiority, in other words, the book never once entertained the idea that Americans could have been morally wrong in their policy making, in other words, America was morally enlightened in Barbarie affair, morally enlightened in pursuing trade with the Ottoman, morally enlightened in inciting Arab revolt, and morally enlightened in backing the Zionist. In other words, morally speaking, the author did not write from the Native viewpoint but took western value as the absolute standard.

perseverance

What did you love best about Power, Faith, and Fantasy?

a great history lesson

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

it took several attempts to get through this work.

Any additional comments?

This book gets better the second and third time you read it. I checked out the book from the library and found it more interesting to follow along while listening to the audio. The book has a section with pictures of many historical characters in the book.

Judgmental of former U. S. leaders.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

yes. I learned a lot.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Finding out how early America interacted with the Middle East. This book was too judgmental of our leaders, when they did not take active action in the Middle East.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Norman Dietz?

yes

Do you think Power, Faith, and Fantasy needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No The whole story was told.

Very well put togethet.

Book was wonderful. Very enlightening. I wish Mr. Oren narrated.

Should be required reading for every diplomate, staffer and public official dealing with the Middle East.

Had To Give Up

Don't get me wrong: The book itself is very interesting, full of information that fascinates and intrigues. I bought the book. The audiobook was tedious and boring.

This is an academic work. It is written in the self-important and frequently pedantic style that goes with textbooks and scholarly works. The author also can't resist showing off his vocabulary -- sometimes with constructions and words that break the flow of the piece, when a much simpler word or construction would have done the job nicely. In some cases, the construction seems to trip up the narrator, and in other cases the narrator's somewhat laborious delivery actually seems to add to the tedium of the more academic parts of the text. (But then again, the narrator is stuck with the text, isn't he?)

Since the book is pursuing three specific academic themes, examples are frequently retold and anecdotes either referenced or repeated as the author gets to each theme. In the interests of developing his three theses, the author breaks up the chronology in a way that can be very distracting and hard to follow when you are listening (without a way to quickly leaf forward or backwards as you might with pages). You will listen through a segment of history in one theme, only to have it start over again as the author pursues and develops his next thesis. This inevitably results in repetition and disconnects the precedents and antecedents throughout the history.

All of this adds up to an audio experience that can become tedious and seems to make the book longer than it really is. Since it is an audio experience, one cannot easily skim through sections quickly, as we all learned to do with academic books in high school or college. You must listen to the whole thing or take your chances in skipping ahead.

In the end, I went out and bought the book. It's a great book. It's not a great listen.

Difficult but informative

I learned so much from this book. But it wasn't enjoyable. It isn't particularly well organized. Perhaps it would be better to read it.

Verbose

While the book is informative, its' also overly detailed bringing in physical descriptions and events that read as if they came from a novel. The reader can jump forward to the epilog, were the writer repeats virtually everything he's already said and be done with it in 20 minutes.