About the Book This cultural history of the American-Israeli relationship, beginning in the nineteenth century and going through 1947, when the state of Israel was established, to the present puts a focus on religion, Christian and Jewish, and its connections with individual American artists and their intense relationships with Israel. In high relief are the ... revealing and often little-known stories of individual writers, thinkers, and superstar performers in music, theater, dance, film, and television and their relationships-- Book Synopsis From the days of steamship travel to Palestine to todays evangelical Christian tours of Jesuss birthplace, the relationship between the United States and the Holy Land has become one of the worlds most consequential international alliances. While the political side of U.S.-Israeli relations has long played out on the world stage, the relationship, as Shalom Goldman shows in this illuminating cultural history, has also played out on actual stages. Telling the stories of the American superstars of pop and high culture who journeyed to Israel to perform, lecture, and rivet fans, Goldman chronicles how the creative class has both expressed and influenced the American relationship with Israel. The galaxy of stars who have made headlines for their trips includes Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Leonard Bernstein, James Baldwin, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Madonna, and Scarlett Johansson. While diverse socially and politically, they all served as prisms for the evolution of U.S.-Israeli relations, as Israel, the darling of the political and cultural Left in the 1950s and early 1960s, turned into the darling of the political Right from the late 1970s. Today, as relations between the two nations have only intensified, stars must consider highly fraught issues, such as cultural boycotts, in planning their itineraries. Review Quotes A tour de force. . . . This highly recommended book will be not only of interest to students and academics with particular interest in how the arts shaped American passions about Israel, but any reader of US-Israel relations and political movers and shakers who require a better understanding of the complex social and political relationship between the US and the Israeli state, and the role of American Christians in Israels destiny.-- Journal of Religion and Popular Culture An exploration of the role that art and artists have played in mediating and manifesting the special relationship between the United States and Israel. . . . Engaging and illuminating. . . . For those seeking to enjoy a collection of intriguing episodes about that relationship, curated and explained by an accomplished scholar who has himself been tangled in it.-- Reading Religion-- Effectively highlights the left-right division that is splitting much of the world.-- Kirkus Reviews Goldmans true fascination in this realm is with the Christian religious attraction to the Land of Israel--not only in its biblical guise, naturally, but also in a modern Zionist context. Sometimes the author links this to right-wing American politics, but it is more often a function, in his telling, of evangelist zeal, like the nineteenth-century missionaries and the visits of Johnny and June Carter Cash (which open the book) and Jerry Falwell.-- Israel Studies Review In this brisk, informative, and entertaining study, Goldman offers a coherent narrative for one of the less studied connections between US and Israeli culture.-- Diplomatic History The author effectively explores the complicated relationship between Israel and American culture heroes in a time when sympathy is generally offered to the perceived underdog. This exceptionally engaging and well-researched book is highly recommended.-- CHOICE This detailed history will provide any reader interested in U.S.-Israel relations an accessible overview of a complex social and political relationship.-- Publishers Weekly