The book hasn't made it to Audible, nor did Bookshare get a publisher's
copy, even though the publisher is nation Books and copies of their books
always get to Bookshare. A volunteer is now working on it. There are 2 other
new books about the attack on Gaza last year that haven't made it to
Bookshare either. I don't think this is an accident.
Miriam
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Why Is the Mainstream Media Running Away From Max Blumenthal's New
Book About Israel
________________________________________
Why Is the Mainstream Media Running Away From Max Blumenthal's New Book
About Israel
By Bill Berkowitz [1] / Truthout [2]
July 17, 2015
Max Blumenthal is a spot-on, tenacious journalist.
He has a bevy of enthusiastic supporters, and a host of virulent pro-Israel
"no matter what" critics. He has become a lightening rod for conservatives.
Is it possible for right-wingers and AIPAC adherents to speak about his work
without either blowing a carotid artery; or attacking him personally,
huffing and puffing about his being "anti-Semitic," a self-loathing Jew, an
anti-Israeli propagandist, and a bullying anti-Zionist? It doesn't appear it
is.
That dear readers, is a darn shame, because the work of Max Blumenthal -- a
gutsy award-winning journalist whose on-the-ground reporting often shatters
the confabulated wisdom of the Mainstream Media Misinformation and
Disinformation Complex -- speaks for itself in its insights and
fearlessness.
As Mondoweiss pointed out, Blumenthal's last book - Goliath: Life and
Loathing in Greater Israel - documenting the growth of radical right-wing
politics in Israeli -- did not get reviewed in The New York Times.
Typical of attacks from the pro-Israel media, Petra Marquardt-Bigman, a
German-Israeli freelance writer and researcher, takes the slash and burn
approach [3] to Blumenthal and his work. In a recent blog post, she
maintained that Blumenthal not only has "enthusiasm for Hamas," but that he
seems to have an "uncritical acceptance of the terror group's propaganda."
Blumenthal's new book is titled The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza
[4], and was published at the end of June. The book covers as Blumenthal
reported directly from Gaza at the time - Israel's aerial onslaught last
year on the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 2,200 people, the vast
majority of whom were Palestinian civilians, including over 500 children.
I know Max Blumenthal, but don't know him well. Somewhere along the line,
those of us reporting on the religious right exchange emails, and on
occasion, actually run into each other. I'm guessing it was an email
exchange.
Interestingly, despite how critics attempt to cast him, Blumenthal is not a
one-trick pony. Over the years he's reported on: the murder of hundreds of
women in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico and how those deaths were
connected to the policies of corporate interests in the border city; hunger
strikes by undocumented migrants in privatized U.S. detention centers; the
rise of the anti-immigrant Minuteman movement; and Sarah Palin's connection
to the Alaska Independence Party among other diverse topics.
His 2009 book, Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the
Party made The New York Times bestseller list, despite it not being reviewed
the "paper of record."
Blumenthal is also a kind of pioneer of short video documentaries, in which
he heroically (not in the Greek sense, but bravely nevertheless) made his
way into all sorts of conservative confabs and get-togethers, and allowed
attendees to offer up their unadulterated opinions about the state of the
nation. Folks were more than happy to tell him how effed up the nation was.
Then Blumenthal would get asked to leave the premises, occasionally being
escorted out.
In the video Generation Chickenhawk attendees at the July 2007 College
Republican National Convention in Washington, D.C. were asked why they, as
Iraq War supporters, had not enlisted in the United States Armed Forces.
That same year, his short video called Rapture Ready, was about American
Christian fundamentalists' support for the State of Israel. Blumenthal also
exposed Israeli racism toward Palestinians in clips he shot there.
Some conservatives are still obsessing about Blumenthal's Republican
Gomorrah, and cheerfully bringing Hillary Clinton into the picture.
According to a recent Washington Free Beacon story, Alana Goodman cites
e-mails from Clinton praising Max's book. In an email to Max's father Sidney
Blumenthal, a long-time friend of and adviser to Hillary Clinton, dated
September 11, 2009, Clinton describes the book as "great."
Blumenthal has numerous platforms available to him, and he has garnered a
huge following. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles
Times, The Nation, Salon, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, and The
Guardian. Blumenthal contributes weekly articles to Alternet where he has
been a senior writer since September 2014.
Reza Aslan, a professor of creative writing at the University of California,
Riverside, who is a nationally-known author on religious issues and
commentator on the Middle East, has said that Blumenthal is among "the most
vital voices in journalism today, always speaking truth to power with
fearlessness and integrity."
It remains to be seen how Blumenthal's new book will be received. In judging
the work, will it be possible to "let a hundred flowers bloom," without the
personal attacks? Stay tuned.
Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement.
Share on Facebook Share
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Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [5]
[6]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/books/why-mainstream-media-running-away-max-blumenth
als-new-book-about-israel
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/bill-berkowitz
[2] http://www.truthout.org
[3]
http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/06/08/no-truth-in-advertising-max-blumenthals
-new-book-on-gaza/
[4] http://www.amazon.com/dp/156858511X/ref=nosim/?tag=thesmirkingchimp
[5] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Why Is the Mainstream
Media Running Away From Max Blumenthal's New Book About Israel
[6] http://www.alternet.org/
[7] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Why Is the Mainstream Media Running Away From Max Blumenthal's New
Book About Israel
Why Is the Mainstream Media Running Away From Max Blumenthal's New Book
About Israel
By Bill Berkowitz [1] / Truthout [2]
July 17, 2015
Max Blumenthal is a spot-on, tenacious journalist.
He has a bevy of enthusiastic supporters, and a host of virulent pro-Israel
"no matter what" critics. He has become a lightening rod for conservatives.
Is it possible for right-wingers and AIPAC adherents to speak about his work
without either blowing a carotid artery; or attacking him personally,
huffing and puffing about his being "anti-Semitic," a self-loathing Jew, an
anti-Israeli propagandist, and a bullying anti-Zionist? It doesn't appear it
is.
That dear readers, is a darn shame, because the work of Max Blumenthal -- a
gutsy award-winning journalist whose on-the-ground reporting often shatters
the confabulated wisdom of the Mainstream Media Misinformation and
Disinformation Complex -- speaks for itself in its insights and
fearlessness.
As Mondoweiss pointed out, Blumenthal's last book - Goliath: Life and
Loathing in Greater Israel - documenting the growth of radical right-wing
politics in Israeli -- did not get reviewed in The New York Times.
Typical of attacks from the pro-Israel media, Petra Marquardt-Bigman, a
German-Israeli freelance writer and researcher, takes the slash and burn
approach [3] to Blumenthal and his work. In a recent blog post, she
maintained that Blumenthal not only has "enthusiasm for Hamas," but that he
seems to have an "uncritical acceptance of the terror group's propaganda."
Blumenthal's new book is titled The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza
[4], and was published at the end of June. The book covers as Blumenthal
reported directly from Gaza at the time - Israel's aerial onslaught last
year on the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 2,200 people, the vast
majority of whom were Palestinian civilians, including over 500 children.
I know Max Blumenthal, but don't know him well. Somewhere along the line,
those of us reporting on the religious right exchange emails, and on
occasion, actually run into each other. I'm guessing it was an email
exchange.
Interestingly, despite how critics attempt to cast him, Blumenthal is not a
one-trick pony. Over the years he's reported on: the murder of hundreds of
women in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico and how those deaths were
connected to the policies of corporate interests in the border city; hunger
strikes by undocumented migrants in privatized U.S. detention centers; the
rise of the anti-immigrant Minuteman movement; and Sarah Palin's connection
to the Alaska Independence Party among other diverse topics.
His 2009 book, Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the
Party made The New York Times bestseller list, despite it not being reviewed
the "paper of record."
Blumenthal is also a kind of pioneer of short video documentaries, in which
he heroically (not in the Greek sense, but bravely nevertheless) made his
way into all sorts of conservative confabs and get-togethers, and allowed
attendees to offer up their unadulterated opinions about the state of the
nation. Folks were more than happy to tell him how effed up the nation was.
Then Blumenthal would get asked to leave the premises, occasionally being
escorted out.
In the video Generation Chickenhawk attendees at the July 2007 College
Republican National Convention in Washington, D.C. were asked why they, as
Iraq War supporters, had not enlisted in the United States Armed Forces.
That same year, his short video called Rapture Ready, was about American
Christian fundamentalists' support for the State of Israel. Blumenthal also
exposed Israeli racism toward Palestinians in clips he shot there.
Some conservatives are still obsessing about Blumenthal's Republican
Gomorrah, and cheerfully bringing Hillary Clinton into the picture.
According to a recent Washington Free Beacon story, Alana Goodman cites
e-mails from Clinton praising Max's book. In an email to Max's father Sidney
Blumenthal, a long-time friend of and adviser to Hillary Clinton, dated
September 11, 2009, Clinton describes the book as "great."
Blumenthal has numerous platforms available to him, and he has garnered a
huge following. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles
Times, The Nation, Salon, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, and The
Guardian. Blumenthal contributes weekly articles to Alternet where he has
been a senior writer since September 2014.
Reza Aslan, a professor of creative writing at the University of California,
Riverside, who is a nationally-known author on religious issues and
commentator on the Middle East, has said that Blumenthal is among "the most
vital voices in journalism today, always speaking truth to power with
fearlessness and integrity."
It remains to be seen how Blumenthal's new book will be received. In judging
the work, will it be possible to "let a hundred flowers bloom," without the
personal attacks? Stay tuned.
Bill Berkowitz is a longtime observer of the conservative movement.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [5]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[6]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/books/why-mainstream-media-running-away-max-blumenth
als-new-book-about-israel
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/bill-berkowitz
[2] http://www.truthout.org
[3]
http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/06/08/no-truth-in-advertising-max-blumenthals
-new-book-on-gaza/
[4] http://www.amazon.com/dp/156858511X/ref=nosim/?tag=thesmirkingchimp
[5] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Why Is the Mainstream
Media Running Away From Max Blumenthal's New Book About Israel
[6] http://www.alternet.org/
[7] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
