Over the past several decades, Middle Eastern Studies Departments have flourished on America’s college campuses. Thousands of professors teach classes on Middle Eastern politics and fill academic journals with their studies about the region. But Middle Eastern scholar Martin Kramer says the field of Middle Eastern Studies has been a huge failure over the past two decades. Kramer argues that ivory tower academics have failed to explain or predict any of the major political developments in the Middle East. The September 11th attacks represent the extreme consequences of that failure. Kramer says Middle Eastern Studies experts could have seen a major attack coming and warned the nation — but instead they were asleep at the wheel. This hour, Martin Kramer on the state of Middle Eastern Studies in America — and why it matters.

Guests:

Martin Kramer, editor of the Middle East Quarterly and author of “Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle Eastern Studies in America”