The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People - Mead, Walter Russell Review & Synopsis

 Synopsis

From the acclaimed author of God and Gold and Special Providence, a groundbreaking new work that overturns the conventional understanding of the Israeli-American relationship and explores the fate of the Jewish people. 

 

In this brilliant investigation, one of our premier scholars of American foreign policy contends that both pro- and anti-Zionists have unintentionally collaborated in a myth of monolithic American-Jewish support for Israel that exaggerates Jewish unity concerning Israel, overstates the influence of Jewish lobbyists, and underestimates the potential for change in the Israeli-American relationship. Mead unveils the little-known incidence of non-Jews such as J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller lobbying for a Jewish homeland well before the foundation of the modernist Zionist movement. He makes clear how, in contrast, many Jewish Americans feel at odds with Israel's right-wing nationalists; and how developments under both George W. Bush and Obama have driven the most heated American debate over Israel since the 1940s. Throughout, Mead's singular intelligence and lively prose penetrate layers of opaque history and politics, illuminating a better way forward.

Review

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD is James Clark Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College, Distinguished Scholar in American Strategy and Statesmanship at the Hudson Institute, and the editor-at-large of The American Interest. He served as the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow in American Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and as a Brady-Johnson Fellow in Grand Strategy at Yale University. His other books include, most recently, God and Gold: Britain, America, and the Making of the Modern World. He is a frequent contributor to publications including Foreign Affairs and The Wall Street Journal, and his popular blog, Via Meadia, appears at The American Interest online.

The Arc of a Covenant

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.

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 ..."

God's Country

God's Country tells the complete story of Christian Zionism in American political and religious thought from the Puritans to 9/11. Combining original research with insights from the work of historians of American religion, Samuel Goldman provides an accessible yet provocative introduction to Americans' attachment to the State of Israel.

Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East, 1945– 2000. ... Mead , Walter Russell . Arc of a Covenant : The United States , Israel , and the Fate of the Jewish People . New York: Knopf, 2017. — — —. “God's Country."

Rise of the Revisionists

Rise of the Revisionists: Russia, China, and Iran is a five-essay volume, edited by the American Enterprise Institute’s Gary J. Schmitt, that examines the three rising powers as they challenge the US and the global order in three critical regions of the world. Essays by the American Enterprise Institute’s Frederick W. Kagan on Russia and Dan Blumenthal on China and by Foundation for the Defense of Democracies Senior Fellow Reuel Marc Gerecht on Iran analyze the historical roots of each country’s ambitions, their strategic goals, and possible US policies for meeting the challenges and threats posed by each. Those essays are framed by an introduction by Gary Schmitt that places the tests facing the US foreign policy in a broader strategic framework and by a concluding essay by Hudson Institute Scholar Walter Russell Mead that looks to the Father of History, Thucydides, to provide insight into the complex set of domestic and foreign realities that shape American statecraft in this most challenging time.

 Walter Russell Mead is the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College and the Distinguished ... His next book, The Arc of a Covenant : The United States , Israel , and the Fate of the Jewish People , ..."

Chicken soup for the teenage soul

This book contains important lessons on the nature of friendship and love, the importance of belief in the future, and the value of respect for oneself and others, and much more.

This book contains important lessons on the nature of friendship and love, the importance of belief in the future, and the value of respect for oneself and others, and much more."