One of the first articles I wrote in NR post-9/11 was a piece on the sad state of Middle Eastern studies as an academic discipline:
Much has been made in recent weeks of the CIA’s failure to penetrate Osama bin Laden’s terrorist cells and prevent thousands of deaths–a failure in what the spooks call “human intelligence.” Left almost untouched in the recriminations following September 11, however, is another kind of human-intelligence disaster, which has occurred at American universities. Despite receiving millions of dollars in federal grants over several decades to develop an expertise on Islam and Arab culture, the academy has done little but offer spectacular misreadings and terrible advice. Higher education has seen plenty go wrong over the last generation, but the inability–and often the refusal–of professors in Middle Eastern studies to prepare the country for mass terrorism or help it cope with the aftermath may eventually be considered one of its most damaging failures.
One of my most important sources was Martin Kramer, whose excellent monograph Ivory Towers on Sand had just come out. It’s now available as a download here. Unfortunately, it remains as relevent as ever.