author: Victoria Clark
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2009/02/08
date added: 2009/02/09
shelves: history, non-fiction, politics, religion, sociology
review:
Book is divided into two parts: the history of Christian Zionism from the Reformation in England to 1948, and a survey of modern American Christian Zionism.
For me, the first part was full of new information, weird twists of history, strange characters (a Venn diagram of this book & Eating the Sun shows Joseph Priestly as the one person in the union!) over the history of both Britain & the US. The second half has some new, but much that’s familiar to anyone who’s been following this part of foreign policy over the last 10 years.
It feels like what it is, too: a foreigner’s attempt to understand something deeply weird and totally American. (alas) She tries to have a gentle touch, but the underlying tone is OMGWTFBBQ crazy people! Not that I don’t sympathize, of course, and maybe I’m projecting a bit. Because yes, OMG teh crazy. I really really really hope that we get to an actually rational foreign policy in re: the Middle East sometime soon!