What events and circumstances fuelled America's fixation with the Middle East? In this book, Professor Salim Yaqub covers over 100 years of US involvement in and policy towards the Middle East to explain this vital geopolitical relationship.

Starting with the upheavals of World War I and the first stirrings of US geopolitical interest in the region, the book describes how and why the Middle East's resources, location, conflicts and crises became key concerns for the United States. This includes:

· The growing centrality of Middle Eastern oil to the global economy and to US military strategy
· The region's geographic location and efforts to combat strategic adversaries like the Axis powers during WWII and the Soviet Union during the Cold War
· Israel's cultural and political significance to American society and government
· Anti-Western “rogue” states or terrorist groups using the region as a staging area for attacks and the US response

Taking a chronological approach, the book explains how global upheavals and traumatic ruptures in the region shaped the trajectory of US-Middle East relations over successive eras. Yaqub covers the impact of WWI, WWII and decolonization as well significant events such as the 1956 Suez Crisis, the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, Al-Qa'ida's terrorist attacks of 2001, and the Hamas raid of October 7, 2023. Readers will understand what motivated Washington's foreign policy and how it impacted the Middle East.

Pitched to university students and educated general readers, each chapter includes a timeline of relevant historical events, photographs, political cartoons, maps, and other graphics.