For the first time, the author presents a detailed and revelatory account of the U.S. role in the establishment of the new Israeli state during the years following World War II and the Holocaust. Drawing on three newly opened official archives, plus interviews with surviving participants and other fresh material, Grose is able to cast light on several abiding mysteries and to clarify at last exactly what happened - the arguments in corridors and hotel rooms, the memoranda and diplomatic infighting, the plays for public backing, the heroes and the villains. The drama is real and compelling, and it is startling to see how much of it was played out here, in Washington and New York. "Even as they go their own ways, in pursuit of their own national interests," Grose writes, "Americans and Israelis are bonded together like no two other sovereign peoples." Why this should be so is the theme of his engrossing and comprehensive narrative. Israel in the Mind of America helps us understand Israel - and ourselves. --from inside jacket.