Issued as part of UPCC book collections on Project MUSE.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [277]-291) and index.

Introduction. Us versus them : America and Islam in the age of terror -- Genesis : containment and Cold War in the Muslim world -- George H.W. Bush and the end of the Cold War : "beyond containment" in the Middle East -- Bill Clinton and the Middle East : from "enlargement" to "dual containment" -- Containment on steroids : George W. Bush and rogue state rollback -- The Obama doctrine : "contagement" and counterterrorism in the Muslim world -- Revelations : "contagement" Islamophobia, and a new cold war in the Middle East.

In this important new book, Douglas Little explores the political and cultural turmoil that led U.S. policy makers to shift their attention from containing the "Red Threat" of international communism to combating the "Green Threat" of radical Islam after 1989. Little analyzes America's confrontation with Islamic extremism through the traditional ideological framework of "us versus them" that has historically pitted the United States against Native Americans, Mexicans, Asian immigrants, Nazis, and the Soviets. The collapse of the Soviet Union seemed to signal that the doctrine of containment had served U.S. interests in the Middle East well, preserving Western access to Persian Gulf oil while protecting Israel and preventing communist subversion. Yet, although many Americans hoped that the end of the Cold War would enable the United States to redefine its diplomatic relationships in the Middle East and elsewhere, Little demonstrates that from Operation Desert Storm in 1991 to America's battle against ISIS today, U.S. foreign policy has been governed by "us versus them" thinking, with Islamophobia supplanting the threats of yesteryear.

Description based on print version record.