In the nineteenth century, there was a massive influx of Near Eastern material into American literature. Lacking immediate contact with the region, American authors had little accurate knowledge of it, and the result is that the factual content of writings dealing with the Muslim Orient is weak or distorted. Islamic material was not accompanied by accurate representations of Muslim manners, and the image of the Muslims that was formed by many authors of the time is often sternly unflattering, even if weakly grounded in knowledge. The religion and the Prophet similarly remain shrouded in legend, vagueness, and prejudice.