Once in a great while, a book comes along that not only discusses a topic of interest, it changes the boundaries of that discussion forever. This is such a book. In How Israel Lost Richard Ben Cramer analyzes the four questions that have bedeviled Israel and Palestine for almost forty years:

I. Why Do We Care About Israel?

II. Why Don't the Palestinians Have a State?

III. What Is a Jewish State?

IV. Why Is There No Peace?

With personal observation and sharp and challenging argument, Cramer insists that Israel is losing her soul by maintaining her occupation of the lands conquered in the Six Day War. Israel has become a victim of that occupation no less than the Palestinians, who must have a nation of their own. Cramer makes clear for the first time why the occupation endures and how it corrupts and corrodes the societies of both Arab and Jew.

Cramer's portrait of those societies is both up to the minute and timeless, enlivened at every step by his trademark humor, by humane understanding of the people caught in the conflict, and by his astonishing gift for language, theirs and ours. Both his observations and arguments are drawn with startling clarity, informed by the fierce and fearless reporting that won him the Pulitzer Prize for Middle East coverage twenty-five years ago.

The result is a book destined to produce both heat and light — it is both shocking and a delight to read. This is journalism so sharp that it will change the story it set out to tell.

"If ever a book on Israel and the Palestinians was a good read, it's this introduction to the half-century-long conflict....Many will find this a welcome personal introduction to the conflict..." Publishers Weekly

"[I]n describing the horrors of a rapidly deteriorating situation that engenders accelerating hatreds, Cramer has performed a vital service." Booklist

"[T]imely and essential...Cramer paints an excellent case for the Palestinian root cause — a place for "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Library Journal

"...Cramer is neither sentimental nor righteous, and so generosity, jealousy, folly, love, decency, narrow-mindedness, even evil (which he does label as such) emerge under his hand as human — all too human." Chicago Tribune

"How Israel Lost comes out of left field. That can happen when an author permits unbridled emotion to overshadow calm reason when writing about a subject he loves." Miami Herald

"How Israel Lost is about [Cramer's] loss of innocence as well as Israel's." USA Today

"Cramer boldly charges into the quagmire....While Cramer's analysis of how things have come to such a pass is compelling, his solution to the problem is less innovative...." Hartford Courant

"...Cramer's account levels a pox on both sides of leadership in the region. It is an account that is bound to result in a mixture of laughter, tears, anger and, ultimately, desperation." Orlando Sentinel

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Joe DiMaggio comes an explosive, controversial look at the reasons behind Israel's softening international support — and what it means both today and for the future.

The ebbing support for Israel among Western governments is a major landmark in the history of the last decade, and is without a doubt an issue that will influence many events to come. Richard Ben Cramer, who has won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Middle East, now presents readers with How Israel Lost, a definitive study of the once-triumphant country that has failed in the eyes of the world. Cramer gets to the core of what troubles so many Western Jews about Israel: the contradiction between its humanistic foundation and its harsh treatment of the Palestinians. Since Israel was founded, the West — and Jews especially — have seen it as a beacon of hope and democracy in a hostile world. Cramer describes how in the past ten years the Israelis seem to have squandered that respect and good will, focusing on the key players and crucial events that have turned the tide against the Israelis in the eyes of the international community.

With the same meticulous research and intelligence that has made Richard Ben Cramer one of America's most highly regarded journalists, How Israel Lost is a timely, powerful, and important look at one of the most pivotal points of the world — and in history.

The ebbing support for Israel among Western governments is a major landmark in the history of the last decade, and is without a doubt an issue that will influence many events to come. Pulitzer Prize winner Cramer presents readers with a definitive study of the once-triumphant country that has failed in the eyes of the world.

This title is a study how of the once-triumphant country of Israel has failed in the eyes of the world. Richard Cramer gets to the core of what is troubling so many Westerners about Israel: the contradiction between its humanistic foundation and its harsh treatment of the Palestinians.

Richard Ben Cramer won the Pulitzer Prize for Middle East reporting in 1979. His journalism has appeared in Time, Newsweek, the New York Times Magazine, Esquire and Rolling Stone. He is the author of the bestselling Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life, and the classic of modern American politics, What It Takes: The Way to the White House. He lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore