The Chosen Peoples - Tod Gitlin & Liel Leibovitz December 2, 2010

Co-Authors of the Timely, Provocative The Chosen Peoples, Discuss the Consequences of Israel and America's View that Their Nations Are "Chosen" by God.

Americans and Jews are the only peoples who have founded nations on the belief that they are God's chosen people. Todd Gitlin, best-selling author and sociologist, and Tablet editor Liel Leibovitz, co-authors of The Chosen Peoples, will discuss how "chosenness" can be viewed as a call for justice on Thursday, December 2, 2010, at 7pm, at the Osher Marin JCC, 200 North San Pedro Ave., in San Rafael.

Gitlin and Leibovitz demonstrate in their book how Israel and America both bear an enormous burden in imagining themselves as being God's "chosen" nations, and how they use this idea as an impetus for both good and evil. As we've seen with Native Americans and Palestinians as only two examples, this issue of "choseness" often stirs up antagonisms among those seen as "nonchosen" and sanctions the persecution of native populations by the "chosen" people.

Todd Gitlin is the author of the bestseller The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage and eleven other books. A prominent social commentator and media analyst, Gitlin is a professor of journalism and sociology, and chairs the Ph.D. program in communications at Columbia University. He has lectured in twenty countries and lives in New York City.

Liel Leibovitz, a former non-commissioned officer in the Israel Defense Forces, is the author of Aliya: Three Generations of American-Jewish Immigration to Israel and coauthor of Lili Marlene: The Soldiers' Song of World War II. He is a professor of communications at New York University, and an editor at Tablet, an online magazine of Jewish life, culture, and religion. He lives in New York City.

Tickets to this author event are $15 for general admission ($12 for members) available by calling 415-444-8000. Visit www.marinjcc.org for more information.

Official Website: http://www.marinjcc.org