Eye on Israel: How America Came to View Israel As an Ally - Hardcover

Mart, Michelle

9780791466872: Eye on Israel: How America Came to View Israel As an Ally

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0791466876 ISBN 13: 9780791466872

Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr, 2006

Examines the image of Israel in American culture before 1960.

Eye on Israel shows how the seeds of contemporary U.S.-Israeli relations were sown in the cultural narratives of the late 1940s and 1950s, long before American policymakers formed a close political and strategic relationship with Israel. Michelle Mart brings together diverse areas of history and examines the cultural antecedents of this much-heralded relationship. She also tackles the difficult question of the relationship between American Jews and U.S. policy toward the Jewish state. Finally, Mart demonstrates that American images of Israel and Jews were shaped by specific cold war concerns―visible in movies, novels, magazines, and newspapers―and reflect American identity and political mythology in the midst of the struggle against communism. The result is a unique examination of the intersections of culture, diplomacy, and ethnic and national identity through the specific case of U.S.-Israeli relations and American Jewish identity in the postwar period.

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From the Back Cover:

Eye on Israel shows how the seeds of contemporary U.S.-Israeli relations were sown in the cultural narratives of the late 1940s and 1950s, long before American policymakers formed a close political and strategic relationship with Israel. Michelle Mart brings together diverse areas of history and examines the cultural antecedents of this much-heralded relationship. She also tackles the difficult question of the relationship between American Jews and U.S. policy toward the Jewish state. Finally, Mart demonstrates that American images of Israel and Jews were shaped by specific cold war concerns—visible in movies, novels, magazines, and newspapers—and reflect American identity and political mythology in the midst of the struggle against communism. The result is a unique examination of the intersections of culture, diplomacy, and ethnic and national identity through the specific case of U.S.-Israeli relations and American Jewish identity in the postwar period.

"This is a dazzling combination of social, cultural, intellectual, political, and diplomatic history, relying on a wealth of previously untapped original sources to provide a more nuanced look at the American response to the partition of Palestine and the establishment of the State of Israel." — David Desser, coauthor of American Jewish Filmmakers, Second Edition

About the Author:

Michelle Mart is Associate Professor of History at Penn State at Berks.

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