Jerusalem Calling (original) (raw)

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Schalit critically interrogates everything from Middle Eastern politics to the New Economy, from debates in the independent music scene about “selling out” to the current cultural interventions of Jerry Falwell and his followers.

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Selected for _Publishers Weekly_‘s Best Books of 2002 list

“This remarkable collection of essays by an astute young writer covers a wide range of topics . . . [and] provides an overview of contemporary critical, radical thinking . . . This is the debut of a new and original thinker.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Joel Schalit is part of a new generation of secular Jewish leftists who issue a challenge to state-authorized religion in Israel and throughout the world. With his political autobiography, Schalit reveals the reactionary ideas that drive today’s liberal rhetoric. He also makes a passionate case for ending military violence, which rips apart countries and families alike.”
—Annalee Newitz, San Francisco Bay Guardian

“Jerusalem Calling is a very impressive collection of essays that is particularly relevant now that we have a fundamentalist nut in the Oval Office.”
—Doug Henwood, author of Wall Street

“Joel Schalit’s passions are unrestrained but his arguments are impeccable, his attitude distinctive. He has a clear eye for nuance and subtext, and a sharp scalpel for hypocrisy and pretense. You will hear a lot from and about this writer in the future, so be smart: Get in on the ground floor. Jerusalem is calling and we all have to answer from the cellphones in our minds and hearts.”
—Danny Schechter, author of News Dissector

Description

Jerusalem Calling signals the emergence of a new breed of public intellectual. American by birth, Israeli by association, and homeless by conscience, former Punk Planet and Bad Subjects editor Joel Schalit is uniquely qualified to dissect the New World Order and the rise of religious fundamentalism across the globe. Moving effortlessly from philosophical complexity to outrageous humor, Schalit critically interrogates everything from Middle Eastern politics to the New Economy, from debates in the independent music scene about “selling out” to the current cultural interventions of Jerry Falwell and his followers.

Throughout his impassioned analyses, Schalit highlights opportunities for the political left to make itself popular once again. Even while discussing the bleakest of topics, such as the civil wars in the former Yugoslavia, he never succumbs to the cynicism that plagues so many progressive commentators. Raised in a secular Zionist household by one of modern Israel’s founding families, Schalit has found a way to transcend nationalism of all stripes. Remarkably, he generates sympathy for Christian, Muslim, and Jew alike, even as he reveals the prevalent dangers in all forms of religious fundamentalism.

Book Details

Author

Joel Schalit

JOEL SCHALIT is a writer and editor based in Berlin, Germany. The author of the critically-acclaimed Jerusalem Calling, and the editor of several collections including The Anti-Capitalism Reader, Schalit has edited some of America’s most influential independent magazines, including Punk Planet, Tikkun, and the legendary ’90s e-zine, Bad Subjects. His work has also appeared in AlterNet, the Forward, openDemocracy, and the Guardian. Schalit currently comments on Mideast politics for French global news broadcaster France 24, and is the editor of Seattle’s new politics and culture daily, Souciant. Israel vs. Utopia is his latest book.

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