Introduction

Maureen A. Flanagan
Michigan State University

One of my aims when I assumed editorship of the JGAPE was to find ways to bring more international perspective to the study of this time period. The growth of transnational histories and efforts begun by other U.S. history journals to "internationalize" their readership and subject matter indicate that this is an important direction for historians of the GAPE to pursue. The immediate question for me as editor was how to begin. A few years ago I participated in a summer seminar program organized by my department for Italian students at the University of Turin who were majoring in American Studies. For two years now, I have had a Turkish graduate student ø one of the University of Bilkent's M.A.s in U.S. history. Both of these experiences, combined with my own of teaching as a Fulbright professor in Egypt and living several years in Italy where I have met professors of U.S. history and American Studies, led me to think that we should begin by examining how the GAPE is taught outside of the U.S. So, I decided to try and assemble a special issue on this matter and asked four professors if they would be willing to contribute to this effort. All agreed with enthusiasm and we began planning an issue that would cover different areas of the world.	1
My sense that comparative North American history is a growing field in the discipline, as well as the continental reality of the NAFTA, led me to invite Jack Blocker and Georg Leidenberger to explain the situation of teaching U.S. history in Canada and Mexico respectively. Discussions with my Turkish graduate student made me curious about the state of U.S. history in Turkey, so I eagerly asked Russell Johnson to contribute to the issue. Unfortunately, the fourth contributor ø from Europe ø  was unable to meet the necessary deadline. Feeling that the issue did need a fourth essay, and there being no time to solicit another contributor, I stepped in to write about my own experiences in Egypt. As editor I would prefer not to publish myself and do so now from necessity and I hope that my experiences and observations in that country provide additional perspective on the international teaching of the GAPE.	2
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