cover image The Israeli Mind: How the Israeli National Character Shapes Our World

The Israeli Mind: How the Israeli National Character Shapes Our World

Alon Gratch. St. Martin’s, $26.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-250-06780-7

As an Israeli-American who is also a clinical psychologist, Gratch seems uniquely qualified to dissect the Israeli mind-set, which he does in this provocative blend of psychological profile and foreign policy analysis. Gratch brings up habits of thought in his home country’s mentality that made sense when the nation was young but are now counterproductive to its peaceful coexistence with other countries and peoples. He traces many of them to a sense of helplessness engendered by the Holocaust, asserting that it led to a culture of defensive hypermasculinity. After profiling the collective Israeli mind, he speculates about how changes in thinking could help Israelis better confront present challenges, including the BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) movement and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. If readers accept the premise that a national character can be dissected in the same manner as an individual psyche, then they will find this book illuminating and full of fresh insights into contemporary geopolitics. At the very least, it is a fascinating thought exercise, and worth the read for that alone. Agent: James Levine, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency. (Sept.)