In his review, Paul Starkey questions my “almost obsessive emphasis” on the role of the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies (MECAS). My book evaluates in a few pages the contribution MECAS made to the teaching of Arabic as a foreign language and puts it in an international context, which is ignored in the review. Notably, MECAS benefited from contact with American universities and with the Foreign Service Institute (FSI). The book makes clear the many connections with American universities and other institutions, governmental and otherwise.