McCarthy (history, U. of Louisville) traces prejudice in the United States against Turks (and Islam) to the activities and communications of what he terms "the [Christian] missionary establishment," essentially the only Americans to spend any significant time in the Middle East or the Balkans beyond merchants who rarely recorded their views. He traces the reports of the missionaries about the Turks from the early 19th century to the early 20th century, aiming to refute what he sees as prejudiced inaccuracies regarding Islam, Turkish relations with the Greeks and the Armenians, and other topics where the missionary establishment--often amplified by British and American journalists, politicians, and others in a position to influence American public opinion--"spoke with one voice on the Turks and Islam," a voice that "was overwhelmingly negative and uniformly unjust." Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)