Makdisi and Vitalis. Books. It is rare that I read excellent books, back to back. You are used to me reading book than criticizing them, or trashing them. Artillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East by Ussama Makdisi is an important corrective to Michael Oren's flawed and inaccurate account of US missionaries in which they are portrayed as forerunners to Zionists. In the beginning, Makdisi originally compared Missionary attitudes to Arabs to that of American Christian attitudes to native Americans. Most importantly, Makdisi tells the story of As`ad Shidyaq: a Maronite convert to Protestantism who was persecuted and killed by the Maronite church. Since the book (not signed) by Butrus Bustani in the 19th century, this story has not been told before and should be read by all. I wish the account gave more tribute and attention to As`ad's brother: the brilliant Ahmad Faris Shidyaq. The book discusses the contributions of Butrus but Butrus needs a PhD dissertation study--NOW. I may quibble with Ussama here and there: I may quibble with Ussama here and there: I am far more critical of Ibn Al-Qila`i and his Madihat Jabal Lubnan. An early treatise of sectarian hatred. I also wish that Ussama mentioned Yusuf Al-Asir, a Muslim who worked with American missionaries. And the American printing press and the rise of forms of nationalism (like in the writings of Butrus Bustani) need a study of its own. I was impressed that Ussama found a handwritten letter by As`ad Shidyaq in the Houghton library at Harvard. That was a catch. Go read it NOW.
The second book by Robert Vitalis is titled America's Kindgodm: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier. When I first opened the book I encountered a quotation by Thomas Friedman and that made me squirm. I quickly recovered and read with great interest an important alternative study to US government and companies and their early relations with Saudi Arabia and its oil. The book is written with fire and intensity: we need more of this tone in scholarship especially about a story that is full of racism, hypocrisy, deception, exploitation, and human rights violations. Vitalis uncovers every bit of evidence and documents dealing with early US encounters with Saudi oil. He also debunks the myth of "reforms" by King Faysal. I only disagree with Bob on one matter: I just did not understand why he did not use or refer to the plethora of writings in Arabic (books, memoirs, pamphlets) about Aramco and Saudi oil. Even `Abdur-Rahman Munif's Cities of Salt is mentioned in passing. The subject of Aramco filled pages in the political literature of 1950s and 1960s and Vitalis should have made reference to that especially that we--I--criticize American scholarship for not paying attention to what the natives have to say on the matter under study. This is particularly important because Bob discusses the racism of US companies in Saudi Arabia. Go read it NOW.
PS: I worry that both books are not likely to be translated into Arabic. The first because it contains a damning account of the Maronite church, and the second because of the clout of Saudi royal family in Arab publishing.