MIKE MARQUSEE, author of the acclaimed 'If I Am Not For Myself: Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jew' will be speaking in Scotland in May:
*** 4th May (3-4.30pm) - Book Launch - location TBC - Giffnock
*** 5th May (7-9pm) - Book Event - Lecture Theatre 175, Old College, Edinburgh University
*** 6th May (7.30-9pm) - Book Event - Rm 513, Lecture Theatre D, Boyd Orr Building, Glasgow University
Read an extract in Guardian's G2 here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/04/israelandthepalestinians.bookextracts
Read a recent Independent review here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/if-i-am-not-for-myself-by-mike-marqusee-798699.html
SEE BELOW FOR FULL DETAILS OF THE BOOK.
FOR MORE INFORAMTION OR TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW/EVENT WITH THE AUTHOR PLEASE CONTACT [log in to unmask]
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IF I AM NOT FOR MYSELF
Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jew
MIKE MARQUSEE
Published 10th March 2008 (Please see attached press release for full details)
“Both in the eloquence of his writing and the deep humanism of his vision, he stands shoulder to shoulder with the spirits of Isaac Deutscher and Edward Said.” – Mike Davis, author, Planet of Slums
• Verso is proud to announce the publication of an urgent and deeply personal memoir from Mike Marqusee, author of Wicked Messenger: Bob Dylan and the 1960s and Redemption Song: Muhammad Ali and the Spirit of the Sixties.
• If I Am Not For Myself explores the author’s complex relationship with his Jewish identity, interweaving the personal and the political with a skill and fluency that ought to be the envy of any novelist.
• An utterly invaluable consideration of what it means to be Jewish in the twenty-first century, published in a year that marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel.
• “In this extraordinary journey through family memory and New York leftwing history, Marqusee introduces us to unforgettable Jewish heretics and heroes, including his brawling grandfather and the Prophet Amos. In proudly reclaiming the Jewish radical tradition, he reminds us that cultures are not the exclusive franchises of nation-states, and that Zionists and anti-semites share the same sinister, radicalized concept of group identity.” – Mike Davis, author, Planet of Slums
• “‘Zionism is an ideology and a political movement. As such it is open to rational dispute.’ From this simple yet profound premise Mike Marqusee confronts in his characteristically lucid manner the dilemma of being an internationalist secular Jew opposed to all forms of oppression, including those that speak in his name. Weaving personal reflections with political insight and biographical and autobiographical narrative with historical analysis, he sets forth a principled, thoughtful and compelling anti-Zionist vision that is urgently needed today.” – Anthony Arnove, co-author, Voices of a People’s History of the United States
• If I Am Not For Myself traces the author’s upbringing in 1960s Jewish-American suburbia, his anti-war and pro-Palestinian activism on the British left, and life as a Jew among Muslims in Pakistan, Morocco and Britain.
• Interwoven with these accounts are the experiences of his grandfather’s life in Jewish New York of the 1930s and 1940s, his struggles with anti-Semitism and the twists and turns that led him from anti-fascism to militant Zionism.
• Marqusee refutes the claims of Israel and Zionism on Jewish loyalty and laments their impact on the Jewish diaspora. Rather, he argues for a richer, more multi-dimensional understanding of Jewish history and identity and reclaims vital political and personal space for those castigated as “self-haters” by the Jewish establishment.
• “In If I am Not For Myself, Mike Marqusee confronts some of the most sensitive political issues of our time, weaving them into a compelling personal narrative. Re-appropriating his own past, the author reclaims an authentic secular Jewish identity that is not centred on Israel. A clear, distinctive, provocative voice speaks throughout the book. You do not have to agree with Marqusee’s central contentions to respect the clarity and integrity of his voice. This-worldly and life-affirming, scathingly candid and painfully honest, If I am Not For Myself is in the best tradition of ethical, diasporic Jewish writing.” – Brian Klug, Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy, St Benet’s Hall, Oxford, and co-founder, Independent Jewish Voices
FOR MORE INFORAMTION OR TO ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW/EVENT WITH THE AUTHOR PLEASE CONTACT [log in to unmask]
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