Israel's Dead Soul

by Steven Salaita

How Zionism became an exceptional ideology in the eyes of the west

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

I teach English at Virginia Tech and write about Arab Americans, Indigenous peoples, race and ethnicity, and literature. I live with my beloved wife, my half-blind bichon frise, and my nutty orange tabby in Blacksburg, Virginia. The little fellow in the picture with me is my son, Ignatius, the fiery one.

Reviews

[Yazeed Mujahed · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5/5)
This book is written in an academic approach which i enjoyed, as it's short to the ideas and author's view. The author is an Israeli academic, who travelled to the west and started writing, two points i would like to hight.

1. Author successfully administered why the current picture of Israel is deceiving: it's an ethnocentric state, it is full of irreconcilable contradictions, it presents itself as a democratic state in comparison with countries around it not by its internal standards.

2. The author like many other Israeli academic figures (example Avi Shlaim) claims to be enlightened and what to advocate on the Israeli- Palestinian struggle from somewhere close to what he likes or thinks fair, and neglecting what happened before. Somewhere in the book he advocate that Arab and Ethiopian Israelis should be treated in an equal way like European counterparts. He describes Israel today form without looking in history and provides sensible advice what justice may look like for Arab who suffered before the current form, as if only today and tomorrow matter but not yesterday, missing today situation is only a result of commutative oppression.


The book has five chapters discussing (influence of academic organizations promote Israel picture in the western world, how multicultural offices in American universities are pro- Zionist, how Israel promote its self as a paradise for homosexual but it's far from being that, and how Jewish settlers brought violence to Palestine long time ago).

[Marcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw Steven read from this book last week so I had a head start into some of the chapters in this book. It is an excellent book on American discourse surrounding Israel and his goal, I think, is certainly achieved by the conclusion of the book: "My hope is that readers wil let lie Israel's dead soul and examine Israel's destruction of actual minds and bodies instead" (11). What is particularly new in this book, and I think most important, is his chapter on discourse about Israel within African American political and intellectual thought--especially Cornel West and Michael Eric Dyson. This chapter contains some apt and significant analysis that I hope will have an effect on readers who feed into the type of hypocrisy that West and Dyson peddle. It's a really smart and engaging read. I especially think American composition students would benefit from studying the language Steven analyzes and his methods for unpacking it.

[Foxglove · Rating 1 out of 5]

Badly written and rather short sighted.

[Sia Afghani · Rating 1 out of 5]

TRASH! Huge Waste of Money!!! Very Inaccurate depiction of Israel and the Palestinian conflict. Very Bias! DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A timely, necessary, and incredibly intelligent book! Salaita has taken on the task of unflinchingly critiquing one of the greatest hypocrisies in contemporary liberal discourse. A must read for anyone interested in social justice and ethical progressive intellectualism.