Understanding the World | Israel-Palestine conflict

In her presentation, McAlister will discuss her latest book, Promises, Then the Storm: Notes on Memory, Protest, and the Israel-Gaza War (MACK Press, 2924), where she offers a series of meditations, both personal and analytical, on the war in Gaza as it unfolded in its early months, writing about the Hamas attack on Israel, the unfolding violence in Gaza, and the US role in the conflict. Encompassing the earliest political promises, made and broken, that laid the ground for the Israel–Palestine conflict, subsequent wars and attempts at peace, through to the flashpoint campus protests of 2024, this text serves as a primer to the history of the region and its unique place in global consciousness.

Melani McAlister is Professor of American Studies and International Affairs at George Washington University. She is a scholar specializing in the ";global visions" produced by and for Americans, studying how cultural and political history intersect and the influence of religion and culture on U.S. ‘interests’ globally. Her expertise includes nationalism, transnationalism, cultural theory, and media history. McAlister's notable works include The Kingdom of God Has No Borders, A Global History of American Evangelicals (OUP, 2018) and Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East since 1945 (University of California Press, 2001). She is also co-editor of volume 4 of the Cambridge History of America and the World.

Professor McAlister's extensive publications span prestigious journals such as the Journal of American History and Diplomatic History. She has also contributed to The Washington Post and The New York Times. McAlister has been a fellow at several institutions and is involved with the American Council of Learned Societies and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.