© Columbia University Press
Pens and Swords: How the American Mainstream Media Report the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Paper, 456 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-13349-4
$27.50
/ £19.00
January, 2008
Cloth, 456 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-13348-7
$79.50
/ £55.00
"This detailed work should be on the shopping list of all American correspondents moving to Jerusalem." — Simon Wilson, Nieman Reports
"[Dunsky's] writing is perceptive and her arguments insightful" — Jewish Book World
"A comprehensive account of just how difficult it is to offer a 'fair and balanced' narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the United States-Israel relationship." — Mark LeVine, Tikkun
"Pens and Swords offers valuable insights into several fields and is a good read for a wide readership." — Jørgen Jensehaugen, Journal of Peace Research
"Marda Dunsky comprehensively documents the shortcomings of the mainstream U.S. news media in their coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." — Walter Rodgers, The Christian Century
"This is an important book; a vital contribution to the scholarship on this issue. The empirical evidence that Dunsky has so diligently provided for her arguments constitutes her book's greatest strength." — Karim H. Karim, director, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University, Canada
"Dunsky has done us a great service by showing that there is a decidedly pro-Israel bias in the American media's coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which makes it almost impossible to have intelligent debates about that dispute and its effects on U.S. Middle East policy. Anyone concerned about why the United States is in so much trouble in the Arab and Islamic world should read Pens and Swords." — John J. Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, the University of Chicago
"Written by a journalist and scholar who has reported from the region, this book is a perceptive, careful, and factual assessment of why the American mainstream media do such an exceedingly poor job of conveying the realities of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, instead perpetuating stereotypes and echoing the conceits of policymakers in Washington." — Rashid Khalidi, Edward W. Said Professor of Arab Studies, Middle East Institute, Columbia University
"Pens and Swords doesn't just decry systematic distortion but explains why it happens again and again. Marda Dunsky makes use of theory to illuminate rather than obscure, bringing academic rigor to a topic so politicized that many avoid it out of fear. Thanks to Dunsky for this brave and timely book." — Robert Jensen, University of Texas at Austin