A book on the Mideast is a book on Islam.
Whatever, you and Bill Press and the chip-on-his-shoulder agent are right. Racism is rampant and this Arab hating racist pilot should have let the "I-can't-pull-my-head-out-of-my-ass" Agent onto the airplane despite his acting suspicious. Wow.
Im sure that youre aware that there was a Mideast prior to the rise of Islam in the eighth century. In fact, most feel that civilization began near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (present day Iraq). They had huge cities and created marvels such as the Pyramids while Eurpeans were hunter gatherers wearing skins for clothing.
BTW, we owe a great debt to our Arab neighbors. They created our present number system which enables us to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Prior to adopting their number system, the world was burdened with Roman Numerals which are only decent for use in outlines or the faces of buildings. Also they kept alive much of the early religious and historical documents from early civilizations. While Early Christians were goign around burning any documents which didnt support their beliefs, the Arabs were collecting documents and building vast libraries. The largest library in the Ancient world was in Alexandria, Egpyt before it was torched by the Romans when they came after Marc Anthony and Cleopatra.