Like its two predecessors in the Collected Papers series, this volume is based on the proceedings of an international colloquium held at Tel Aviv University. The colloquium was organized in March 1978 by the Shiloah Center in cooperation with the University's newly established Center for Strategic Studies.

As the title and subtitle imply, special emphasis was laid on the images and perceptions that people of the Middle East and the United States have had of one another, and the way in which their relationship is viewed from within the area, from Washington and from other pertinent vantage points. The conference also dealt with five other major issues: the historic background and evolution of American policy in the Middle East (papers by Elie Kedourie from the London School of Economics and Wilfrid Knapp from Oxford University); American interests in the Middle East (papers by Uzi Arad from Tel Aviv University, Gad Gilbar from Haifa University, and Bernard Reich from George Washington University); the international context within which American policy in the area is conducted (Ya'acov Ro'i from Tel Aviv University, Richard Rosecrance from Cornell University, and Udo Steinbach from the Orient Institut in Hamburg); the formulation of American policies in the Middle East (Steven Spiegel from UCLA); and America's bilateral relationship with several Middle Eastern states (papers by Yoram Dinstein,Yair Evron, Gideon Gera, Itamar Rabinovich. anc Shimon Shamir from Tel Aviv University, and John Waterbury from Princeton University); the papers which dealt directly with views, images, and their depiction were presented by Bernard Lewis from Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study, and Haim Shaked from Tel Aviv University.