Kramer, Martin. “
Setting the Record Straight on Israel (interview).”
The Weekly Standard, 2016, November 7.
Web originalAbstractAn interview with Martin Kramer by Lee Smith, on publication of Kramer's book The War on Error.
Setting the Record Straight on Israel (pdf) Kramer, Martin. “
In the Words of Martin Luther King.” In
The War on Error: Israel, Islam, and the Middle East, 254-67. New Brunswick, NJ and London: Transaction Publishers, 2016.
Abstract“When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking anti-Semitism!” Martin Luther King was supposed to have said this at a dinner party in Cambridge, Massachusetts, shortly before his death. Critics claimed he could not have said this because he could not be placed in Cambridge at the time. They thus insinuated that the quote must have been invented by Harvard’s Seymour Martin Lipset, who reported it. The author relies on King’s papers to establish a firm address, host, date, and time for the dinner. But he also bring evidence (from FBI wiretaps) of King’s profound ambivalence about Israel’s 1967 victory. King supported Israel’s right to exist, but he thought Israel would have to disgorge its military conquests.
Amalgamates and revises three posts from Kramer's blog Sandbox.
Kramer, Martin. “
The Exodus Conspiracy.” In
The War on Error: Israel, Islam, and the Middle East, 245-52. New Brunswick, NJ and London: Transaction Publishers, 2016.
AbstractThe author examines the oft-repeated claim that the famous 1958 novel Exodus by Leon Uris was set in motion by a scheming New York advertising man, and not by Uris himself. Through the testimony of witnesses who were there, the author shows that this is untrue.
Based on a 2011 post on Kramer's blog Sandbox.
Kramer, Martin. “
The Shifting Sands of Academe.” In
The War on Error: Israel, Islam, and the Middle East, 9-17. New Brunswick, NJ and London: Transaction Publishers, 2016.
AbstractMartin Kramer looks back upon the writing of his book Ivory Towers on Sand (2001), recalls his intentions, identifies what he sees as the book’s merits and shortcomings, and assesses its reception.
Originally a lecture delivered to the graduate proseminar "Approaches to Middle Eastern Studies" at Harvard in 2007. This is its first publication. The Persian translation, also here in pdf, appeared in the magazine Ghalamo, no. 8, Dey 1396 (December 2017-January 2018).
Kramer, Martin. “
Israel and the Post-American Middle East: Why the Status Quo is Sustainable.”
Foreign Affairs 95, no. 4 (2016): 51-56.
Web version ($)AbstractConventional wisdom holds that the Israeli-Palestinian status quo is "unsustainable." Yet it has been remarkably resilent in the face of the distruptive changes sweeping the Middle East. This article explains why the status quo has been so durable, and why it is likely to endure in the future.
Kramer, Martin. “
The Pathology of Middle Eastern Studies.” In
Ninth Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA). Washington, DC, 2016.
Vimeo version The Pathology of Middle East Studies (pdf)Plenary address as delivered.
Kramer, Martin. “
Repairing Sykes-Picot.” In
Lines That Bind: 100 Years of Sykes-Picot,
edited by Andrew J. Tabler, 79-85. Washington, DC: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2016.
Entire bookAbstractA century after Sykes-Picot, much confusion reigns about its actual legacy. Some of its provisions faded into history, but a few have persisted. This article looks at what has lasted and what has not, and asks whether it should be dismantled or repaired.
