Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
110 of 146 people found the following review helpful:
Powerful, and probably very true, June 13, 2002
Christison's book on how the Palestinians have virtually been ignored by the United States throughout the Arab-Israeli conflict is a first-rate analysis of American foreign policy at its worst. She details the ways in which each president has been oblivious to the existence of a rich Palestinian culture and history. It is amazing how even the presidents we associate with being supportive of the Palestinian cause (Jimmy Carter) still suffered, to a certain degree, from this cross-cultural ignorance. Perceptions of Palestine is highly effective in forcing the reader to sit back and reflect on their own views. It made me question to validity and objectivity of the information I receive every day on the middle east. I highly recommend this book as there are not many out there with such a unique and important argument.
|
|
|
82 of 112 people found the following review helpful:
Unhesitatingly recommended as a standard text, January 11, 2000
Although the history of America's "special relationship" with Israel is by no means a unexplored topic for authors, Kathleen Christison's "Perceptions of Palestine: Their influence on U.S. Middle East Policy" breaks new ground by its sheer scope of analysis, tracing 130 years of formulation of American perceptions of the Middle East, and their ultimate manifestation in U.S. government policy. "In the Middle East," writes Christison at the beginning of her book, "terminology shapes reality; it becomes a way of seeing reality, and, finally, it is reality." This single line, perhaps better than any other, encapsulates the political landscape mapped by Christison's book, a well-referenced 293-page investigation of the sources of the US mindset that has shaped Middle East policies through twelve key presidencies from Wilson to Clinton. "Perceptions on Palestine" analyses the state of knowledge of the president and key policymakers in each administration and the preconceptions with which they entered office, by examining - where available - their writings and the writings of those who most closely influenced them; by exploring coexistent popular attitudes towards the Middle East in the media, films, and literature; and by looking at how each administration was influenced by the prevailing conventional wisdom. I would unhesitatingly recommend this book as a standard text for anyone wishing to understand the reason for the prolonged nature of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.
|
|
|
68 of 103 people found the following review helpful:
Frozen mindset, May 4, 2002
This is a very clear treatment of the basic difficulty that has accompanied the Arab-Israeli conflict all the way through--the fixed mindset that gives 'conventional wisdom' free reign, to the point that efforts of diplomats are inhibited, a factor visible in the latest failure, the Oslo Peace process. Thus the notion that Palestinian claims are 'artificially and mischievously inspired' is hard to shake, as is the perception that the only issue in the conflict is an unreasonable Arab refusal to accept Israel's right to exist. The work is a useful guide to the whole history of the conflict, and ends by finding Clinton, so close to a real breakthrough, still caught in all the basic misperceptions.
|
Share your thoughts with other customers: 
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
(10)
$12.24
(40)
$10.20
See all Editorial Reviews
(
