The Golden age of printing for Islamicists surely was the 19th century, when skilled European and occasionally Middle Eastern and Indian typesetters, could compose in as many fonts as an author could write. One reads Goldziher’s Die Zāhiriten with envy, not only for the meticulous transliterated Arabic and generous footnotes at the bottom of the page, but for the extensive Arabic quotations inserted into the text and notes. Since few of the Arabic texts he cited had been published, Goldziher provided his readers with his evidence in the original. Those were the days; and a new golden age for Islamicists may be upon us. With computers, not only footnotes on the page but transliteration and multiscript publishing are suddenly feasible and even simple.

The items discussed below take advantage of the flexibility of the Macintosh system to let even casual computer users produce Arabic. These programs make it possible for anyone easily to produce text in Islamic script (Arabic, Persian, Ottoman, Urdu, etc.) in camera-ready form.

In Fall 1990, the Defense Department mailed an eight-page questionnaire to more than a thousand college and university professors who teach courses in contemporary Middle East Studies. Fifteen percent, 184 professors, responded, which is an impressive rate for such an endeavor. The survey asked, among other things, how often courses meet, how course materials are organized, which specific topics are covered, which texts are used and requested a copy of the professor’s course syllabus. I heard about the survey from one of those solicited and called the director of the project to learn the results.

The information sought in this survey is not classified. Specifics about a Middle East Studies course are available to anyone who signs up; and most professors are more than willing to discuss their selection and organization of material. But the survey was conducted without identifying the surveyors or their purpose. Neither the questionnaire nor its cover letter indicated a connection to the Department of Defense.