From highbrow to pop, from lighthearted to profound, Al' America reveals the Islamic and Arab influences before our eyes, under our noses, and ringing in our ears. Curiel demonstrates that many of America's most celebrated places-including the Alamo in San Antonio, the French Quarter of New Orleans, and the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina-retain vestiges of Arab and Islamic culture. Likewise, some of America's most recognizable music-the Delta Blues, the surf sounds of Dick Dale, the rock and psychedelia of Jim Morrison and the Doors-is indebted to Arab music. And some of America's leading historical figures, from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Elvis Presley, relied on Arab or Muslim culture for intellectual sustenance.
Part travelogue, part cultural history, Al' America confirms a continuous pattern of give-and-take between America and the Arab Muslim world.
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