This detailed chronological analysis of British World War II movies from 1939 until the present explores how films projected recognizable stereotypes of British national character and how the times in which a film was made shaped its perspectives. Several chapters look at films made during and immediately after the war. In depictions of the Home Front, characters display resolve as well as emotional restraint and present an image of an undivided society cooperating to fight evil. By contrast, duty and service are the paramount virtues of combat films while spy melodramas exemplify the British...

In recent decades, Israel has come under sustained diplomatic pressure from the West. According to the press and the policy establishment, she acts aggressively and with disregard for civilian lives in pursuit of an unnecessary and illegal occupation of Palestinian territory. Others view the country as an embarrassing outpost of colonialism, racism and apartheid whose actions--and those of the "pro-Israel lobby"--have provoked a fiery Islamist backlash. This book refutes these misrepresentations, showing that Israel's actions are well within the norms of international law and morality, and...