Our Take

Walter Russell Mead brings formidable scholarship and intellectual courage to one of the most contentious topics in American foreign policy. What sets The Arc of a Covenant apart is Mead's refusal to accept simplistic narratives from either side of the Israel debate. By excavating forgotten history—like Protestant financiers championing Zionism decades before Theodor Herzl—Mead reveals how Christian theology and American imperial interests shaped support for a Jewish state in ways that complicate our understanding of the present relationship. His analysis of internal divisions within the American Jewish community challenges the widespread assumption of unified support for Israeli policies, particularly regarding settlement expansion and treatment of Palestinians. Mead writes with the analytical rigor of an academic but the accessibility of a skilled journalist, making complex geopolitical dynamics comprehensible without oversimplification. This is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand not just the Israeli-American relationship but how American foreign policy actually works. Readers who appreciated Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer's The Israel Lobby will find a more historically grounded and less polemical analysis here, while fans of Mead's previous work like Special Providence will recognize his trademark ability to challenge conventional wisdom with deeply researched arguments. For those engaged with Middle Eastern politics, American Judaism, or the future of American diplomacy, The Arc of a Covenant is indispensable.