"In his many works of history, Tom Segev challenged the entrenched understanding of crucial moments in Israel's past, ultimately changing the way that past is remembered. Now, in a short, sharp, and timely book, Segev has turned his sights from Israeli history to confront some dearly held assumptions about the country today, in the process tipping a number of sacred cows. ". "Drawing on personal experience as well as all kinds of artifacts from Israeli popular cultureshopping malls, fast food, public art, television, religious kitsch - Segev offers a controversial view: the sweeping Americanization of the country, rued by most, has had an extraordinarily beneficial influence, bringing not only McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts but the virtues of pragmatism, tolerance, and individualism. And jumping into the fierce ideological battle over the future of Zionism, Segev welcomes the diffusion of national identity and ideology that has taken place in the last decade as a harbinger of a new spirit of compromise and openness. "--BOOK JACKET.