As the Middle East conflict enters its most violent phase, Tom Segev offers a lively, contentious polemic against cherished and rigid notions of Israel's national unity and culture. In his many works of history, Tom Segev has challenged the entrenched understanding of crucial moments in Israel's past. Now, in a short, sharp, polemical book, Segev has turned his sights from Israeli history to confront some revered assumptions about the country today. Drawing on personal experience as well as all kinds of artifacts from Israeli popular culture -- shopping malls, fast food, public art, television, religious kitsch -- Segev offers a controversial point of view: the sweeping Americanization of the country, rued by most, has had an extraordinarily beneficial influence, bringing not only McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts but the virtues of pragmatism, tolerance, and individualism. And, in the fierce battle over the future of Zionism, Segev welcomes the diffusion of national identity and ideology that has taken place in the last decade as a harbinger of a new spirit of compromise and openness. At a time of crisis, as Israelis and Palestinians retreat to their most embattled positions, Segev's colorful, provocative book is sure to spark heated debate.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Droning book that is more his bias then about the topic:
Segevs attempt to portray Zionism Post or otherwise as it relates to Israels Amerikai fetish is labored. He attempts to link points in Israeli history to changes in the Zionist culture as the relate to the rise of American pop culture in Israel. Word Mr Segev. It has nothing to do with America and everything with you throwing your boring opiinon about Israeli poitics and politicans every other page.
Cultures all over the world mimick those other cultures, that they find fun and interesting. It has... more info
A small book, but a lot to think about:
On our first-ever trip to Israel last month, our bus captain told us one day he was going to take us to "one of the most culturally-significant sites in Israel." It turned out to be the Elvis American Diner on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. So it turned out he was joking (on the other hand, he *is* from Mississippi, so who knows?). And yet, the place obviously has enough cultural significance to have inspired the title of this fascinating little book by Tom Segev (it's mentioned on page 49). I readily... more info
An Israeli's reshuffeling of Israeli history:
Historian and columnist Tom Segev contributes to the long series of books on the Middle-East with a book that fascinates and thrills. It made me look at Israel and the country's near history with new eyes. This small book makes you reflect on accepted truths and myths about the country and it's inhabiltants. Segev's book represents someting new and different, and inspired me to buy a couple of other of his books on the subject. Consider "Elvis in Jerusalem: Post-Zionism and the Americanization of Israel" an... more info
Easy read, great insight:
I came to appreciate Segev after reading his writing in Ha'aretz, an Israeli daily newspaper, and his book, "One Palestine Complete". While the latter was an impressive historical work, "Elvis in Jerusalem", is more closely related to his work as an editorial journalist. It is not a comprehensive or academic look at Israeli society. I have studied the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in considerable depth and have lived in the West Bank, where I gained the kind of intimate knowledge of Palestinian society... more info
