A hundred years ago, Arabs had a largely positive view of the United States, thanks in part to American Protestant missionaries who established institutions of higher education, preparing the way for mutual understanding, argues Makdisi. Arabs, he said, appreciated the absence of U.S. imperialism in the region and Wilsonian principles of self-determination. American support for the creation of the state of Israel led to the unraveling of that relationship, argues Makdisi, a history professor at Rice University.

(Harper Perennial).

This debut novel about love, family, and money explores the repercussions of the sudden marriage of widowed 78-year-old Winnie Easton to Jerry Trevis, a wealthy, elderly businessman. Told in alternating perspectives of three main characters — Winnie, her daughter Rachel, and Trevis’ grandson Avery — the novel mines the jealousies and new relationships created by Winnie and Jerry’s union.   

With her husband, Peter Brosens, Woodworth wrote and directed this feature film set in the Andes of Peru, where villagers mistakenly blame an outbreak of mercury poisoning on Western doctors who work in a nearby clinic. The story centers on the fiancé of a villager killed by the poisoning and the wife of a doctor killed in the villagers’ protest-turned-riot. The film was to be released in New York theaters in August and in Los Angeles Oct. 1.