Beyond these effects, and perhaps not so obvious, is that by denigrating others, we deceive ourselves about our own roles and problems. This is a problem that must be faced by the generation now in high schoolindeed, it should have been faced earlier. To the extent that we see violence as something that comes from outside our society, we are prevented from recognizing and dealing with the violence in our own culture, as for example the West's willingness to sell arms to the rest of the world. It should be emphasized that, according to the reviews in the Third Edition, there appear to be new books in each category which seriously attempt to present the Middle East and North African region in a non-Eurocentric manner, dealing with the diversity of landscapes and resources, peoples, religions and lifestyles. The authors and publishers of these texts have taken the trouble to ensure that the information provided is accurate, and that it incorporates the lastest available scholarship.
Some attention is given to the viewpoints of indigenous populations.
On the whole, we found generally positive responses from publishersit is as easy to publish an accurate book as a sloppy oneand teachers have been grateful for the guidance we offer. We intend to extend our coverage and to promote the results for a few more years. We hope to increase the timely dissemination of the project by putting the work on the Internet, where it can be instantly accessible to teachers who are considering a new textbook. We believe that the correction and improvement of these texts will be a real benefit to American education. The Middle East Studies Association and the Middle East Outreach Council intend to do their part by evaluating new or revised texts as they are published and widely disseminating their findings.