The personal and professional life of Bruno Kreisky (1911–1990), Austria’s long-serving Socialist chancellor from August 1970 to May 1983, has been the focus of many books and articles. However, his ambiguous and complex relationship to his Jewishness, the State of Israel, and Zionism, as well as his connections to his overall political project and global aspirations, remain only partially researched. This book studies and analyzes these more systematically and comprehensively and places Kreisky in a comparative perspective with other twentieth-century European Jewish politicians who attained similar pinnacles of power. At the same time, the book will show that Bruno Kreisky was among the most influential and controversial political leaders since World War II. The book revolves around understanding and illuminating the myriad ways in which Kreisky’s Jewishness was—or was not—a formative factor in his treatment of “Jewish” questions within Austrian politics, Austrian-Israeli relations, and his active engagement in Middle Eastern affairs. This deeper understanding mainly emerges through examining Kreisky’s actions during several pivotal events like the Kreisky-Peter-Wiesenthal affair, the Waldheim affair, the 1973 Marchegg incident, and his overall relationship to Zionism, the State of Israel, and the Palestinian Arab world. This book is not a comprehensive biography of Kreisky. Instead, it attempts to document and place Kreisky’s fraught engagement with his Jewishness and the related sensitive issues that touched upon it in a historical, political, ideological, and personal context. This mainly comes down to the entangled and always-ambiguous politics of identity, especially his understanding of his Jewishness.

An innovative and provocative study tackling the main assumptions surrounding Israel's claim to Jewish identity.

The symposium that kicks off the latest volume of Studies in Contemporary Jewry focuses on the city that is at the very center of contemporary Jewish life, both geographically and culturally. Jerusalem is an extremely engaging and beautiful city as well as a source of continual controversy and contestation. The authors in the symposium discuss a wide range of topics, with a focus on politics and culture, offering readers provocative views on the city over the last 120 years. Essays by historians and cultural scholars in the volume engage with such issues as visions of the city among Jews and non-Jews and musical and literary imaginings of the city, while other scholars bring original interpretations of the city's political evolution in the past century that will both surprise and intrigue readers. The extensive book review section illustrates the consistent interest in modern Jewish history and culture.

The present volume chronicles Austrian immigration to the United States against the backdrop of bilateral relations between the two countries, across the centuries. While it shows the larger themes and epochs in the ongoing relationship, the individuals that came to America and made their contributions over time are also highlighted. The book is accompanied by a website that provides additional information and multimedia content, allowing for a more complete picture of Austrians in the United States over time.

The Kreisky Era in Austria, spanning the years 1970 to 1983, is dedicated to one of the country's greatest statesmen of the postwar period. Bruno Kreisky survived Viennese anti-Semitism, and came to dominate postwar Austrian politics. His career spans the turmoil that has confounded Austrian history throughout the twentieth century. Through his Middle East, detente, and third world initiatives, Kreisky achieved world-class status as a statesman during the cold war. These chapters provide the first scholarly assessment of the Kreisky era. Contributors cover a variety of issues in Austrian politics and many aspects of Kreisky's career. Pierre Secher analyzes Kreisky's paradoxical relationship with Jews and Israel. Otmar Holl traces the Austrian's brilliant and controversial career in foreign policy. Peter Ulram demonstrates how deeply Kreisky transformed Austria with his policies of modernization, secularization, and liberalization. Oliver Rathkolb shows how American presidents since Truman have both admired and detested the bold and creative initiatives emanating from Vienna. Susan Howell and Anton Pelinka compare American and European populist right-wing politics, putting David Duke and Jorg Halder in their respective political contexts. The new "forum" section presents heated debates on the future of Austrian neutrality and the 1955 State Treaty. The "forum" will become a regular feature in this series. Included in this comprehensive volume are review essays, book reviews, and a summary of Austrian politics in 1992. The Kreisky Era in Austria will be of interest to foreign policy analysts, historians, and scholars of Central European politics.

The Mediterranean sea has been a key geopolitical territory in the global international relations of the twentieth century; of crucial importance to the US, the Middle East and in the history of the EU. As Cold War documents become declassified and these archives become accessible to western historians, this volume reassesses the secret war waged over three decades for control of the Mediterranean Sea. An 'American lake' in the 1950s, a battlefield for influence in the Cold War of the 1960s, and an increasingly important political arena for the oil-rich Gulf States in the 1970s, the Mediterranean offers a focal point around which the major themes and narratives of Cold War history were constructed. "Detente in Cold War Europe" draws together detailed analyses of the major moments of post-WWII history through the prism of the Mediterranean - including the signing of the Helsinki Accords in 1975, the Jordan crisis of 1970, the Soviet role in the Yom Kippur war, the Cyprus emergency of 1974, US-Soviet detente and US-Israeli relations under President Nixon. This book is a vital work for historians of the twentieth century and for those seeking to understand the importance of the Mediterranean in the political history of the Cold War.