CROSSCURRENTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

by James P. Warburg ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 16, 1968

The author, a veteran critic of international developments, doesn't really warm up until chapter eighteen; but his preliminary rehash is quite interesting, a professionally constructed freshman history course. Warburg, surely one of the few men to be affiliated with both the Council on Foreign Relations and the Institute for Policy Studies, presents himself as an anti-theological, soberly internationalist Jew. No one could say he tries to whitewash the Israelis, moreover, he elaborates his doubts about the transformation of Jewish community into Jewish nationalism. His recommendations concerning the present conflict: the U.S. should help Israel to construct a model of political and economic progressivism which would help its Arab neighbors. Another controversial statement is never pursued: that American policy may be devoted to the interests of ""the international oil cartel"" and ""the oil-rich Arab states,"" a short-sighted policy since ""the feudal potentates"" are doomed. For a history of the region, an overview of the past year's developments, Warburg is readily surpassed; as a study in American and/or Jewish perspectives, the book makes an illustrative contrast to (e.g.) Maurice Samuel's Light on Israel (p. 315).

Pub Date: July 16, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION