Book Reviews The Sociology of Middle-Eastern Americans Philip Kasinitz 1 It has now been more than a decade since the terrible events of September 11, 2001. These events affected the lives of all Americans, but few more than the growing number of Americans of Middle-Eastern origin. Indeed, it is probably not much of an exaggeration to suggest that among the many results of ‘‘9 ⁄ 11’’ was the creation of a new minority group. It is thus a useful moment to review what we know about America’s Middle-Eastern origin and Muslim populations and to give some thought to role these communities will play in the future, both in the United States and in the Middle East. Prior to 2001, Middle-Eastern Americans were generally regarded as well integrated into U.S. society. They were largely middle class, well educated, and, while they did not fit easily into U.S. racial categories, they were gener- ally seen as ‘‘white’’ (more or less) and displayed only modest levels of group consciousness. ‘‘9 ⁄ 11’’ changed all that. The result was a kind of ethnogenesis under fire in which events in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East helped crystallize an ethnoreligious identity. Of course, this new group is still evolving. Questions of definition and boundaries remain largely open. In particular, the U.S. ‘‘war on terror’’ and the reactions to Islamic fundamentalism call into question the role of Islam in Western societies as well as the ‘‘racialization’’ of Muslims in both the United States and Europe. Jose Casanova recently commented that in Germany in the 1970s there were ‘‘many Turks but no Muslims.’’ Today, ‘‘Muslims’’ abound and are, as Muslims (even more than as Turks or Kurds), playing a particular role in the national debate over multiculturalism. It matters little that many of these ‘‘Muslims’’ are not actually religious. Islam has increas- ingly surpassed national, ethnic, regional, and linguistic identities in the public imagination, and perhaps in minds of the Muslims themselves. In the United States, this is somewhat less the case. Yet here, too, despite the fact that most U.S. Muslims are not of Middle-Eastern origin and that many Middle-Eastern Americans are not Muslim, religion increasingly plays a role analogous to that of race and ethnicity. 1 Department of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, Room 6112.04, New York, New York 10016; e-mail: pkasinitz@gc.cuny.edu. Sociological Forum, Vol. 26, No. 3, September 2011 DOI: 10.1111/j.1573-7861.2011.01272.x 711 Ó 2011 Eastern Sociological Society