Israel Vs. Utopia - Softcover

"An incisive look at the connection between the US and Israel, and their respective roles on the world stage. . . . Israel vs. Utopia is a book that could only be written by someone intimate with the ethos of both countries."--The Jerusalem Post

"[Schalit] refuses the polarities of Zionism/anti-Zionism and embraces a position on Israel that is critical but nonetheless understanding of the complex motivations of the protagonists in the conflict."--Haaretz
"Schalit's elegant, often digressive prose, together with his honest use of personal stories, further helps to break out of the sterile polemical style of much of the writing on Israel."--The Forward

"In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there are few levelheaded voices to be heard in the mainstream . . . Joel Schalit, in his recent book Israel vs. Utopia, is a rare voice indeed . . . a quick, terrific read."--The Daily of the University of Washington

"If the title doesn't get armchair Zionists' blood boiling, Israel vs. Utopia's flora-and-barbed-wire cover art will. And that's a shame, because they'd find valuable revelations in Joel Schalit's clear-eyed vision of Israel."--Philadelphia City Paper

"Schalit does . . . a great job, going out of his way to present as fair a look at both sides of these issues as possible, despite his unhidden bias from being a liberal himself . . ."--Chicago Center for Literature and Photography

Israel is a synonym for many things: the ancestral home of the Jewish people, the hell of the Palestinians; the realization of a centuries-old dream of freedom, and the heart of the War on Terror. No country inspires as much debate about its rights and wrongs, its legitimacy and illegitimacies, than Israel. Historically associated with Europe, such debate finally became common in the U.S. during the Bush era, as America deepened its involvement in the region, and Israel fought three wars.

In his new book, Israel vs. Utopia, Israeli American journalist Joel Schalit distinguishes between the Israel he knows, and the image of it that exists in the imagination of Americans. Israel is a state of mind, Schalit argues, as much as it is its own sovereign state. Exploring this tension, in America, in Israel, employing a combination of personal observation, political, and cultural commentary, Schalit defines the instability of Israel, as a metaphor, and America’s troubled love for it, as only an Israeli American would know.