In June 2009, US president Barack Obama travelled to Cairo to seek a new beginning in the Middle East. Beyond peoples hopes and disappointments, Nils E. Lukacs takes the Obamas historical idea under the magnifying glass. Asking what was new, what was old, and how the new beginning fit into its contemporary discursive context, the book demonstrates how the presidents idea introduced a paradigm shift in the history of the US-Middle Eastern relationship.

In a historical perspective the author focuses the Middle East and on the regions global interactions. He has worked extensively on the regions relationship with the United States and the latters foreign policy in the region.