Mark Twain, an anti-imperialist, still voiced racial contempt for Arabs

Evidence

Greater familiarity with the Middle East in the nineteenth century came from visitors to the Holy Land and from missionaries. Mark Twain, who went on to become a staunch anti-imperialist, wrote in 1869 about his trip to the Holy Land in a book titled The Innocents Abroad, which sold nearly a hundred thousand copies. While Twain witheringly (and hilariously) critiqued his fellow travelers for their hubris and lack of cultural sensitivity—a characteristic of American tourists that would continue into the next century and become grist for the Hollywood mill—he also had harsh words to say about Muslims. He called them “a people by nature and training filthy, brutish, ignorant, unprogressive [and] superstitious,” and saw the Ottomans as “a government whose Three Graces are Tyranny, Rapacity, [and] Blood.” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 136 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Mark Twain’s book The Innocents Abroad, published in 1869, describes his tour of the Holy Land. Twain portrays Muslims and Ottomans as “a people by nature and training filthy, brutish, ignorant, unprogressive, [and] superstitious.” The book was wildly popular, with nearly 100,000 copies sold. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 517 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Even anti-imperialist Mark Twain reproduced Orientalist stereotypes of Muslims. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 136; Even anti-imperialist American travelers voiced racial contempt for Arabs; Mark Twain’s 1869 bestseller framed Muslims as inherently brutish and unprogressive — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 517

Broader Connections

• Even anti-imperialist Mark Twain reproduced Orientalist stereotypes of Muslims. #corroborates (0.95) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 136
• Even anti-imperialist American travelers voiced racial contempt for Arabs #expands (0.92)
• Mark Twain’s 1869 bestseller framed Muslims as inherently brutish and unprogressive #expands (0.90) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 517