Osamah F. Khalil
Associate Professor, History
Degree
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2011
Specialties
U.S. foreign relations, modern Middle East, Cold War, Arab-Israeli conflict
Courses
HST 300: America and the Middle East
HST 645: History of International Relations
Biography
Osamah Khalil is a historian of US foreign relations and the
modern Middle East. He is the author of America’s
Dream Palace: Middle East Expertise and the Rise of the National Security State
(Harvard University Press, 2016), which examines the influence of U.S.
foreign policy on the origins and expansion of Middle East studies and
expertise from World War I to the Global War on Terror. It was reviewed widely,
including in the London Review of Books,
Al Ahram, Publishers Weekly, the CIA’s Studies
in Intelligence, Commonweal, and
was named by Foreign Affairs as a
Best Book of 2017. He has also been a frequent media commentator and
contributor, including for the Huffington
Post, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Al Akhbar, and Al Jazeera. He teaches courses on the history of U.S. foreign
relations, the Cold War, the history of International Relations, America and
the Middle East, and the Vietnam War and popular culture. In 2018, he received
the Chancellor’s Citation for Faculty Excellence and Scholarly Distinction.
Publications
Book
America's Dream Palace: Middle East Expertise and the Rise of the National Security State (Harvard University Press, 2016).
Articles
“The
Radical Crescent: The United States, the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and
the Lebanese Civil War, 1973-1978” Diplomacy & Statecraft Vol. 27, 3
(September 2016): 496-522.
“The
Crossroads of the World: U.S. and British Foreign Policy and the Construct of
the Middle East,” Diplomatic History Vol. 38, 2 (April 2014): 299-344.
“Pax
Americana: The United States, the Palestinians, and the Peace Process,
1948-2008,” New Centennial Review Vol. 8, 1 (2008): 1-38.
Edited Volumes
“The Counterrevolutionary Year: The Arab Spring, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and U.S. FOreign Policy in the Middle East," in American Studies Encounters the Middle East, edited
by Alex Lubin and Marwan Kraidy (University of North Carolina Press, September 2016): 286-301.
"Arab Spring or new Arab Cold War?: Revolutions, Counter-revolutions,
and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East,” in Shifting Borders: America
and the Middle East & North Africa, Conference Proceedings Volume
(American University of Beirut Press, 2014): 253-261.
Book Reviews
Review
of Douglas Little, Us versus Them: The
United States, Radical Islam, and the Rise of the Green Threat (University
of North Carolina Press, 2016) Cold War
History Vol. 17, 3 (September 2017): 323-325.
Review of James Stocker, Spheres of Intervention: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Collapse of Lebanon, 1967-1976 (Cornell University Press, 2016) H-Diplo Roundtable, April 2017
Review of Keith David Watenpaugh, Bread from Stones:
The Middle East and the Making of Modern Humanitarianism (University of
California Press, 2015), Diplomatic History (September 2016). 802-805
Review of Paul Thomas
Chamberlin, The Global Offensive: The United States, the Palestine
Liberation Organization, and the making of the Post-Cold War Order (Oxford
University Press, 2012) Journal of American Studies Vol. 48, 1 (February 2014).348-350
Review of Andrew Preston, Sword of
the Spirit, Shield of Faith (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012) and Religion
and the Cold War edited by Philip E. Muehlenbeck (Vanderbilt University
Press, 2012). Journal of Interdisciplinary History Vol. 44, No. 2 (Autumn
2013). 282-286
Review of Steven Kull, Feeling
Betrayed: The Roots of Muslim Anger at America (Washington, DC: Brookings
Institution Press, 2011). Journal of American Studies Volume 47, 1 February
2013.
Review of Menachem Klein, The
Shift: Israel-Palestine from Border Conflict to Ethnic Struggle (Columbia
University Press, 2010). International Journal of Middle East Studies,
Vol. 44, 2 May 2012.
Review of As’ad Ghanem, Palestinian Politics After Arafat: A
Failed National Movement (Indiana University Press, 2010). H-Levant, January 2011.
Research Grants and Awards
Syracuse University,
Appleby-Mosher Research Grant, 2012-2013, 2014-2015
Selected Professional Activities
American Historical Association
Middle East Studies Association
Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations
Recent Invited Lectures
Organizer and Chair, “The Prize?: Energy,
Security, and Expertise,” American Historical Association, 2017 Annual
Meeting.
Organizer and Chair, “The Prize?: Energy,
Security, and Expertise,” Middle East Studies Association, 2017 Annual
Meeting.
Organizer, “The Prize?: Energy, Security, and
Expertise,” Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, 2017 Annual
Meeting.
Presenter, "America's Dream Palace: Middle East Expertise and U.S. Foreign Policy from Wilson to Trump," LeMoyne College, April 2017
Presenter, "America's Dream Palace: Middle East Expertise and U.S. Foreign Policy from Wilson to Trump," Temple University, April 2017
Presenter, "America's Dream Palace: Middle East Expertise and U.S. Foreign Policy," Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, Qatar, March 2017
Presenter, “A Time of National Emergency: U.S. Foreign Policy and
Middle East Expertise,” Middle East
Studies Association, 2016 Annual Meeting.
Presenter, "America's Dream Palace: Middle East Expertise and U.S. Foreign Policy," Colgate University, October 2016
Presenter, "America's Dream Palace: Middle East Expertise and U.S. Foreign Policy," Syracuse University, Maxwell School, October 2016
Presenter, “Badlands: Geography, Mythology, and U.S. Foreign Policy in
the ‘Greater Middle East’,” Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, 2016 Annual
Meeting.
Panel Organizer, "Rule of Experts?: Revolutions, Doctrines, and Interventions in the Middle East," and Presenter, "Modernizing the Arab Mind: Constructing Traditional Society and Expertise in the Middle East, 1951-1973," Middle East Studies Association, 2014 Annual Meeting.
Panel Organizer, "Rule of Experts? U.S. Foreign Policy and the Politics of Knowledge," and Presenter," Modernizing the Arab Mind: Constructing Traditional Society and Expertise in the Middle East, 1951-1973," The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, 2014 Annual Meeting.
Presenter, "America's Sheet Anchors: U.S. Foreign Policy and American Universities in the Middle East, 1940-1950," University of California, Berkeley, February 21, 2013.
Presenter, "The Radical Crescent: The United States, the PLO, and the Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1978," Michigan State University, February 7, 2014.
Chair and Discussant, “The ‘State of
Palestine’ and the Crisis of the Oslo Accords,” Middle East Studies
Association, 2013 Annual Meeting.
Panel Organizer and Discussant, "Empire, Revolutions and Expertise," Middle East Studies Association, 2013 Annual Meeting.
Presenter, "America's Sheet Anchor: The American University of Beirut and U.S. Foreign Policy from World War to Cold War," AUB: 150th Anniversary Conference, May 2013.
Panel Organizer, "America and the Middle East: The End of the American Century?," and Presenter, "The Crossroads of Empire: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Construct of the Middle East, 1902-2012," American Historical Association, 127th Annual Meeting, January 2013.
Panel Organizer and Discussant, "America and the Middle East: The End of the American Century?," Middle East Studies Association, 2012 Annual Meeting.
Presenter, "Who are You?: The Politics and Limits of Representation and Accountability," Panel sponsored by the Institute for Palestine Studies, Middle East Studies Association, 2012 Annual Meeting.
Presenter, "A Time of National Emergency: The National Security Establishment, Academic Institutions and the Origins of Middle East Studies, 1947-1957," Temple University, Center for the Study of Force and Diplomacy, September 24, 2012.
Presenter, "Constructing Interests and Expertise: The OSS and the Origins of Middle East Studies, 1940-1945," Wartime Intelligence, the Birth of Area Studies and World Knowledge-making in the 1940s, Heyman Center for the Humanities, Columbia University, April 13, 2012.
Presenter, "Arab Spring or new Arab Cold War?: Revolutions, Counter-revolutions, and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East," Shifting Borders: America and the Middle East & North Africa, American University of Beirut, January 13, 2012.
Presenter, "The New World Order: The Decline of Middle East Studies and the Rise of the Think Tanks, 1971-2001," Middle East Studies Association, 2011 Annual Meeting.
Presenter, "The Crossroads of the World: U.S. Foreign Policy Doctrines and the Construct of the Middle East, 1902-2002," Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, 2009 Annual Conference.