Israel in the American Mind
The Cultural Politics of US-Israeli Relations, 1958–1988

Examines the changing meanings Americans invested in their country's intensifying relationship with Israel from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Shaul Mitelpunkt (Author)

9781108422390, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 10 May 2018

400 pages, 14 b/w illus.
23.6 x 16 x 2.7 cm, 0.69 kg

'Mitelpunkt has historicized in this study the ways in which Americans and Israelis have constructed the relationship between their two countries over the course of three tumultuous decades … [he] has not only delved into American sources; he has made ample use of Israeli sources, in Hebrew, and that fact makes his book different than most similar studies, which have had little or no engagement with primary materials in Israel, particularly with state records. His immersion in the official materials reveals the minute and careful involvement of Israeli government operatives in constructing this message and in the handling of its messengers.' Hasia R. Diner, The American Historical Review

This book examines the changing meanings Americans and Israelis invested in the relationship between their countries from the late 1950s to the 1980s. Bringing to light previously unexamined sources, this study is the first to investigate the intricate mechanisms that defined and redefined Israel's place in American imagination through the war-strewn 1960s and 1970s. Departing from traditional diplomatic histories that focus on the political elites alone, Shaul Mitelpunkt places the relationship deep in the cultural, social, intellectual, and ideological landscapes of both societies. Examining Israeli propaganda operations in America, Mitelpunkt also pays close attention to the way Israelis manipulated and responded to American perceptions of their country, and reveals the reservations some expressed towards their country's relationship with the United States. By contextualizing the relationship within the changing domestic concerns in both countries, this book provides a truly transnational history of US-Israeli relations.

List of figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction: 'did I see only America?'
Part I. The Disciple State: 1. 'Lie without blushing': manipulation and friction in the courtship of patronage, 1958–60
2. 'Might as well be the Midwest': visions of Israel as a development project, 1961–67
Part II. The Citizen Soldier: 3. Envying 'indomitable citizenry': the zenith of US fascination with the Israeli citizen-soldier, 1967–73
4. Reforming Sparta: the October war and the collapse of the citizen-soldier idyll, 1973–76
Part III. Processes of Peace and War: 5. 'We ARE moral leaders in the world': the popular foundations of the Camp David Agreement, 1976–79
6. 'Recollections and regrets': Israel and the conservative-liberal divide, 1980–88
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Diplomacy [JPSD], History of the Americas [HBJK], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]