W a y n e S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y P r e ss

The Case Against Academic

Boycotts of Israel
Edited by Cary Nelson and Gabriel Noah Brahm

BOOK INFORMATION:

Book available:
11/3/14
Recommended review date:
1/5/15
6 x 9, 552 Pages, 4 Illustrations
Paperback: $34.99
ISBN 9780990331605
E-Book:
ISBN 9780990331612

Contact for interviews:

Cary Nelson:
217-356-0649 or
crnelson@illinois.edu
Gabriel Brahm:
(+972) 54-593-8086 or
gbrahm@nmu.edu

"What is the Academic BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) movement really all
about? What is the relation, if any, of anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism? What
are the historical, ethical, and political parameters of the current controversy
over BDS on our campusesa controversy that has, thus far, generated more
heat than light? The editors of this book have brought together a set of thirty
essays by leading scholars and public intellectualsessays as stunning as they
are wide-ranging, as remarkably well-informed and factually based as they
are closely reasoned and persuasive. From the opening essays on academic
freedom through the richly nuanced essays by Israeli academics currently
teaching in mixed Arab-Israeli classrooms to the historical timeline, the case
against Academic Boycott is made with such authority that no one who cares
about global politics in the 21st Century can afford not to read these pages.
This is that rare eventa necessary book, a real game-changer."
-Marjorie Perloff, professor Emerita of English at Stanford University

ow should we understand the international debate about the future

of Israel and the Palestinians? Can justice be achieved in the Middle
East? Until now, there was no single place for people to go to find
detailed scholarly essays analyzing proposals to boycott Israel and the Boycott,
Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement of which they are a part.
This book for the first time provides the historical background necessary for
informed evaluation of one of the most controversial issues of our day the
struggle between two peoples living side-by-side but with conflicting views
of history and conflicting national ambitions. This book encourages empathy
for all parties, but it also takes a cold look at what solutions are realistic and
possible. In doing so, it tackles issues, like the role of anti-Semitism in calls for
the abolition of the Jewish state, that many have found impossible to confront
until now. The book gathers essays by an international cohort of scholars from
Britain, Israel, and the United States.
Cary Nelson is Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign and the immediate past president of the American Association of University Professors.
His thirty authored or edited books include No University is an Island: Saving Academic Freedom.
Gabriel Noah Brahm is Associate Professor of English at Northern Michigan University, co-author
of The Jester and the Sages: Mark Twain in Conversation with Nietzsche, Freud and Marx and coeditor of Prosthetic Territories: Politics and Hypertechnologies.
Contributors Include:
Russell Berman, Emily Budick, Michael Brub, David Caplan, Donna Divine, Rachel S. Harris, Dr.
David Hirsch, Nancy Koppelman, Richard Landes, Kenneth Marcus, Marthan Nussbaum, Sabah
Salih, Kenneth Stein, Ilan Troen, Shira Wolosky, Mitchell Cohen, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, Samuel
Edelman, Alan Johnson, Michael Kotzin, Sharon Musher, Asaf Romirowsky, Paul Berman, Carol
Edelman, Robert Fine, Jeff Robbins

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