American Encounters with Islam in the Atlantic World

This study explores American encounters with Islam from the colonial era to the present via narratives of captivity. Throughout American history, texts depicting Americans’ captivity at the hands of Muslims have served to situate the American colonies and the American nation in an Atlantic context, creating cultural scripts that move beyond the scope of local histories to establish a mapping of the world into economic, political, religious, and racial spheres. ‘American Encounters with Islam’ traces the establishment of such scripts and examines how subsequent generations of Americans have adjusted or rewritten them to map their world and suit their political context. Texts include the autobiographical writings of Captain John Smith, letters and sermons by Cotton Mather, the political journal of James Leander Cathcart, Rick Bragg’s book on the captivity of Jessica Lynch, and Diana Abu-Jaber’s novel ‘Crescent’.