Book Review: Sunaina Maira's 'Boycott! The Academy and Justice for Palestine'

Book Review: Sunaina Maira’s ‘Boycott! The Academy and Justice for Palestine’

UC Davis professor Sunaina Maira’s book, Boycott! The Academy and Justice for Palestine, provides a glimpse into the skewed mindset of those pushing for an academic boycott of Israel. From the “Zionist backlash"—allegedly including Campus Watch and the Middle East Forum—to intersectionality to a laundry list of fill-in-the-blank “washing” accusations, Maira’s book reveals the fixations of the BDS movement. CW West Coast representative Cinnamon Stillwell’s review appears in the latest issue of the Middle East Quarterly.

Maira, a professor of Asian American studies at the University of California, Davis, unabashedly advocates for the academic boycott of Israel. A member of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) and wife of USACBI founding member and Bir Zeit University professor Magid Shihade, Maira’s boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) credentials are unimpeachable. She is thus perfectly suited to convey the history, preoccupations, and political challenges of the BDS movement. Her book also serves as a handy primer for its opponents.

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Winfield Myers

Winfield Myers is managing editor of the Middle East Forum and director of its Campus Watch project, which reviews and critiques Middle East studies in North American universities. He has taught world history and other topics at the University of Michigan, the University of Georgia, Tulane, and Xavier University of Louisiana. He was previously managing editor of The American Enterprise magazine and CEO of Democracy Project, Inc., which he co-founded. Mr. Myers has served as senior editor and communications director at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and is principal author and editor of a college guide, Choosing the Right College (1998, 2001). He was educated at the University of Georgia, Tulane, and the University of Michigan.