The United States' mercurial foreign policies toward the Muslim world—including actions taken against Islamic countries who have attempted to challenge the United States' regional dominance; and alliances with Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia—are expertly examined in this incisive treatise. Islamic revivalism, the emergence of a highly political Islamic population, the rise of terrorism, and other recent socio-political changes are also thoroughly discussed.

How the US has reconfigured its policy towards the radical and the conservative group of Muslim countries and how its new mission against terrorism has affected international relations, particularly US-Indian relations, is the central focus of the study.

Chintamani Mahapatra has written a volume that offers a valuable summary of the United States' tenuous relationship with the Islamic world. His thorough-going, impartial review of recent history and current events is of great utility to the scholar, student, and interest citizen. The complex is rendered comprehensible by his carefully organized analysis.

Frances H. Oneal, Professor of International Relations,
University of Alabama, USA

Chintamani Mahapatra has come out with an incisive study of current US perception of Islam and policy towards select Muslim countries. It is a well researched book that delineates the thinking and goals of leading policy planners and think-tanks in United States towards Muslim countries; and the fall-out of these policies especially for India. The work presents a balanced analysis; besides being, of course, very timely. The book is a must read for specialists and scholars on US strategic policy and developments in the Muslim world.

Abdul Nafey, Professor, Centre for Canadian, US and Latin American Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi

Chintamani Mahapatra is well known as a specialist of American Studies in India and his book is a testimony to his insightful observations and critical examination of US policy towards select Islamic countries in the context of emerging complex interactions between the US and various kinds of Islamic forces. It is an outsider's view of US national security approach and is relevant for both American and Indian scholarly communities and even policy makers.

P. Stobdan, Senior Fellow at IDSA & formerly Director, Centre for Strategic and Regional Studies, University of Jammu, India

Chintamani Mahapatra is currently Professor of American Studies and Chairman of the Centre for Canadian, US & Latin American Studies at School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Prof. Mahapatra was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Delaware, USA, Commonwealth Scholar at the University of London, Foreign Policy Fellow at University of Maryland, USA, Salzburg Seminar Fellow in Austria and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Defence Studies Centre, Canberra.

He frequently gives lectures at Society for International Law and Diplomacy, National Defence College, Army War College, College of Naval Warfare, and various Academic Staff Colleges in India. He has authored three books, edited one and has contributed chapters to above twenty edited volumes and has published above fifty articles in reputed national and international journals.