Chapter in book

2016
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.

In the Words of Martin Luther King (pdf)
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.Abstract

The 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.

The Exodus Conspiracy (pdf)
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.Abstract

Martin 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.

The Shifting Sands of Academe (pdf) شن های روان در فضای دانشگاهی (pdf)
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. “Shabtai Teveth and the Whole Truth.” In The War on Error: Israel, Islam, and the Middle East, 219-24. New Brunswick, NJ and London: Transaction Publishers, 2016.Abstract

The author recalls his long friendship with the late Shabtai Teveth, renowned journalist and the biographer of David Ben-Gurion. Teveth, largely unknown to younger readers, may have been the first to challenge the excesses of the “new historians," and his work deserves to be rediscovered.

 

Shabtai Teveth and the Whole Truth (pdf)
Originated in a 2015 post at the Commentary blog.
Kramer, Martin. “Fouad Ajami Goes to Israel.” In The War on Error: Israel, Islam, and the Middle East, 283-89. New Brunswick, NJ and London: Transaction Publishers, 2016. Web originalAbstract

Much maligned for his truth-telling about Arab political culture, Fouad Ajami became the bête noire of the Middle East studies establishment. Some went so far as to call him “pro-Israel,” even a “Likudnik.” The author knew Ajami from his student days, and often assisted him on his visits to Israel. The article sets the record straight on Israel in Ajami’s worldview.

Fouad Ajami Goes to Israel (pdf)
Originally published at Mosaic Magazine on January 8, 2015.
2001
Kramer, Martin. “The Middle East in 1999: Changing Guard.” In Middle East Contemporary Survey 1999, edited by Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, 23:5-15. Tel Aviv: The Moshe Dayan Center, 2001. Google BooksAbstract
A summary of events in the Middle East in 1999.
The Middle East in 1999: Changing Guard (pdf)
2000
Kramer, Martin. “The Middle East in 1997: Soft Coups for Hard Times.” In Middle East Contemporary Survey 1997, edited by Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, 21:5-21. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000. Google BooksAbstract
A summary of events in the Middle East in 1997.
The Middle East in 1997: Soft Coups for Hard Times (pdf)
1999
Kramer, Martin. “The Road from Mecca: Muhammad Asad (born Leopold Weiss).” In The Jewish Discovery of Islam: Studies in Honor of Bernard Lewis, 225-247. Tel Aviv: The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, 1999.Abstract

A study of Muhammad Asad, a European Jewish convert to Islam, who played a prominent role in mid-20th-century Muslim intellectual life, as a thinker and Qur'an translator. The study places him in his political context, with some emphasis on the impact of his Jewish origins.

The Road from Mecca: Muhammad Asad (pdf)

Italian translation: “Storia di un ebreo musulmano.” Lettra internazionale (Rome), vol. 21, no. 86 (2005), pp. 26-29. Download pdf.

1997
Kramer, Martin. “The Oracle of Hizbullah: Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah.” In Spokesmen for the Despised: Fundamentalist Leaders in the Middle East, edited by Scott Appleby, 83-181. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1997.Abstract
A biography of Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah, often identified as the "spiritual leader" of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hizbullah, covering his rise to influence, his political ideas, and his religious concepts.
The Oracle of Hizbullah: Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah (pdf)
1993
Kramer, Martin. “Islam in the New World Order.” In Middle East Contemporary Survey 1991, edited by Ami Ayalon, 15:172-205. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993. Google BooksAbstract
A survey of inter-Islamic affairs in the year 1991, notable for the aftermath of the first Iraq war.
Islam in the New World Order (pdf)
1990
Kramer, Martin. “The Moral Logic of Hizballah.” In Origins of Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States of Mind, edited by Walter Reich, 131-57. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1990.Abstract
An examination of the debate within Hizballah over suicide bombings and hostage-taking.
The Moral Logic of Hizballah (pdf)
1987
Kramer, Martin. “Syria's Alawis and Shi'ism.” In Shi'ism, Resistance and Revolution, edited by Martin Kramer, 237-54. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1987.Abstract

An analysis of the effort by Syria's politically dominant Alawi minority to secure legitimation as Muslim, and the resistance to that effort by Syria's Sunni majority.

Syria's Alawis and Shi'ism (pdf) העלווים והאסלאם השיעי (pdf) علویان سوریه وتشیع (pdf)
The English pdf is the reprint from Kramer's collected volume Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival (1996). The Hebrew translation appeared in a collected volume published in 1991. The Persian translation appeared in a Persian translation of Shi'ism, Resistance, and Revolution, published in Tehran in 1989-90.
1986
Kramer, Martin. “Muslim Statecraft and Subversion.” In Middle East Contemporary Survey 1983-84, edited by Haim Shaked and Daniel Dishon, 8:158-82. Tel Aviv: The Moshe Dayan Center, 1986. Google BooksAbstract
A survey of inter-Islamic affairs in 1983-84.
Muslim Statecraft and Subversion (pdf)