Chronicling the visits of four important figures, this book will help Americans better understand themselves and how outsiders perceive them.

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.

Americans have had an enduring yet ambivalent obsession with the West as both a place and a state of mind. Michael L. Johnson considers how that obsession originated, how it has determined attitudes toward and activities in the West, and how it has changed over the centuries.

Monthly magazine devoted to topics of general scientific interest.

The Black Conservative: An American Hero By Richard Jules Valvano Can a powerful piece of fiction undo the negative stereotyping cast on a group of individuals and make them noble and heroic? In this riveting and explosive novel, the author is betting it will. For years, the black left has cast politically conservative African-Americans as insensitive traitors to the Civil Rights Movement. They are seen as unhinged thinkers who dare to question liberal conventional wisdom concerning black matters and issues. They are often depicted as “Uncle Toms” and whites in dark skin who actually want blacks to be passive porters, shoe-shiners and doormats in a white society. The Black Conservative: An American Hero not only challenges these stereotypes, it does it by way of an engaging thriller filled with fascinating characters. The entire effect is meant to give black conservatives a human element, an insight into their thinking, and a culmination of a renewed and invigorating image of them.