Overview

From the days of steamship travel to Palestine to today's evangelical Christian tours of Jesus's birthplace, the relationship between the United States and the Holy Land has become one of the world's most consequential international alliances. While the political side of U.S.-Israeli relations has long played out on the world stage, the relationship, as Shalom Goldman shows in this illuminating cultural history, has also played out on actual stages. Telling the stories of the American superstars of pop and high culture who journeyed to Israel to perform, lecture, and rivet fans, Goldman chronicles how the creative class has both expressed and influenced the American relationship with Israel. The galaxy of stars who have made headlines for their trips includes Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Leonard Bernstein, James Baldwin, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Madonna, and Scarlett Johansson. While diverse socially and politically, they all served as prisms for the evolution of U.S.-Israeli relations, as Israel, the darling of the political and cultural Left in the 1950s and early 1960s, turned into the darling of the political Right from the late 1970s. Today, as relations between the two nations have only intensified, stars must consider highly fraught issues, such as cultural boycotts, in planning their itineraries.

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9781469683577

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Reviews

"Effectively highlights the left-right division that is splitting much of the world."" - Kirkus Reviews ""This detailed history will provide any reader interested in U.S.-Israel relations an accessible overview of a complex social and political relationship."" - Publishers Weekly ""The author effectively explores the complicated relationship between Israel and American culture heroes in a time when sympathy is generally offered to the perceived underdog. This exceptionally engaging and well-researched book is highly recommended."" - CHOICE ""An exploration of the role that art and artists have played in mediating and manifesting the 'special relationship' between the United States and Israel. . . . Engaging and illuminating. . . . For those seeking to enjoy a collection of intriguing episodes about that relationship, curated and explained by an accomplished scholar who has himself been tangled in it."" - Reading Religion ""In this brisk, informative, and entertaining study, Goldman offers a coherent narrative for one of the less studied connections between U.S. and Israeli culture."" - Diplomatic History ""Goldman's true fascination in this realm is with the Christian religious attraction to the Land of Israel—not only in its biblical guise, naturally, but also in a modern Zionist context. Sometimes the author links this to right-wing American politics, but it is more often a function, in his telling, of evangelist zeal, like the nineteenth-century missionaries and the visits of Johnny and June Carter Cash (which open the book) and Jerry Falwell."" - Israel Studies Review"

Goldman's true fascination in this realm is with the Christian religious attraction to the Land of Israel--not only in its biblical guise, naturally, but also in a modern Zionist context. Sometimes the author links this to right-wing American politics, but it is more often a function, in his telling, of evangelist zeal, like the nineteenth-century missionaries and the visits of Johnny and June Carter Cash (which open the book) and Jerry Falwell.--Israel Studies Review In this brisk, informative, and entertaining study, Goldman offers a coherent narrative for one of the less studied connections between U.S. and Israeli culture.--Diplomatic History An exploration of the role that art and artists have played in mediating and manifesting the 'special relationship' between the United States and Israel. . . . Engaging and illuminating. . . . For those seeking to enjoy a collection of intriguing episodes about that relationship, curated and explained by an accomplished scholar who has himself been tangled in it.--Reading Religion The author effectively explores the complicated relationship between Israel and American culture heroes in a time when sympathy is generally offered to the perceived underdog. This exceptionally engaging and well-researched book is highly recommended.--CHOICE This detailed history will provide any reader interested in U.S.-Israel relations an accessible overview of a complex social and political relationship.--Publishers Weekly Effectively highlights the left-right division that is splitting much of the world.--Kirkus Reviews

Author Information

Shalom Goldman, a popular opinion writer on U.S.-Israeli affairs and librettist of Philip Glass's opera Akhnaten, is professor of religion at Middlebury College. Among his books are Zeal for Zion and God's Sacred Tongue.

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