Elvis in Jerusalem

In a provocative exploration of Israel's cultural identity, award-winning author Tom Segev challenges long-held notions of national unity. In his many works of history, Tom Segev has challenged entrenched understandings of crucial moments in Israel's past. Now, in this short, sharp, polemical book, Segev turns his sights from Israeli history to confront revered assumptions about the country today. Drawing on personal experience and artifacts from Israeli popular culture—shopping malls, fast food, public art, television, religious kitsch—Segev offers a controversial view: the sweeping Americanization of Israel, rued by most, has had an extraordinarily beneficial influence. He argues it has brought not only McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts but also the virtues of pragmatism, tolerance, and individualism. In the fierce battle over the future of Zionism, Segev welcomes the diffusion of national identity and ideology that has taken place in the last decade as a harbinger of a new spirit of compromise and openness. At a time of crisis, as Israelis and Palestinians retreat to their most embattled positions, Elvis in Jerusalem is sure to spark heated debate. "… this slender book will be indispensable to anyone trying to understand current events in Israel and the Middle East." - Publishers Weekly