The United States through Arab eyes : an anthology of writings (1876-1914) / introduced, selected, and translated by Nabil Matar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Matar, Nabil

Contributor:

Matar, N. I. (Nabil I.), 1949- translator.

Language:

Arabic

English

Subjects (All):

Arabs--United States--Attitudes.

Arabs.

Arabs--United States--Social conditions.

Immigrants--United States--History.

Immigrants.

United States--Ethnic relations--History.

United States.

United States--Emigration and immigration--History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 212 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English and Arabic.

Summary:

A vibrant collection of writings about America from its earliest Arab immigrantsThe first Arab immigrants to New York or Alaska or San Francisco were ‘small’ men and women, preoccupied with eking a living at the same time as confronting the challenges of settling in a new country. They had to come to terms with new race communities such as Indians, Chinese and Blacks, the changing role of women, and the Americanisation of their identity.Their writings about these experiences – from travellers and emigrants, rich and poor, men and women – took the form of travelogues and newspaper essays, daily diaries and adventure narratives, autobiographies and histories, full-length books published in the Ottoman Press in Lebanon and journal articles in Arabic newspapers printed in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York. Together they show the transnational perspective of immigrants as they reflected on and described the United States for the very first time.Key featuresNewly translated texts of the first writings about America by ArabsDivides the translations into four categories: minorities, women, identity and returnShows how Arabs admired the United States for its opportunities, religious tolerance and openness, but also criticised its brute materialism and debilitating work conditionsA detailed introduction explores the idea of the Arab Nahda and America

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgements

Some Notes on the Translation

Part 1. Emigration, the Arab Nahda, and the United States of America – An Introduction

Part 2. The Texts

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-204) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4744-3438-X

1-4744-3437-1

OCLC:

1306539094