A NEW YORK TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A groundbreaking work that overturns the conventional
understanding of the Israeli-American relationship and in doing so explores how fundamental
debates about American identity drive our country's foreign policy.In this bold examination of
the Israeli-American relationship Walter Russell Mead demolishes the myths that both
pro-Zionists and anti-Zionists have fostered over the years. He makes clear that Zionism has
always been a divisive subject in the American Jewish community and that American Christians
have often been the most fervent supporters of a Jewish state citing examples from the time of
J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller to the present day.He spotlights the almost forgotten story
of left-wing support for Zionism arguing that Eleanor Roosevelt and liberal New Dealers had
more influence on President Truman's Israel policy than the American Jewish community--and that
Stalin's influence was more decisive than Truman's in Israel's struggle for independence. Mead
shows how Israel's rise in the Middle East helped kindle both the modern evangelical movement
and the Sunbelt coalition that carried Reagan into the White House. Highlighting the real
sources of Israel's support across the American political spectrum he debunks the legend of
the so-called Israel lobby. And he describes the aspects of American culture that make it
hostile to anti-Semitism and warns about the danger to that tradition of tolerance as our
current culture wars heat up.With original analysis and in lively prose Mead illuminates the
American-Israeli relationship how it affects contemporary politics and how it will influence
the future of both that relationship and American life.
