Rubin, Judith Colp

PERSONAL:

Married Barry Rubin (a magazine editor).

CAREER:

Writer, editor. Women's International Net online magazine, publisher, editor-in-chief; previously worked as a foreign correspondent in the Middle East for various American newspapers, and as a Washington, DC-based journalist; has also taught journalism at the university level.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with husband, Barry Rubin) Anti-American Terrorism and the Middle East: A Documentary Reader, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Barry Rubin) Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2003.

(With Barry Rubin) Hating America: A History, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2004.

(With Barry Rubin) Chronologies of Modern Terrorism, M.E. Sharpe (Armonk, NY), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Judith Colp Rubin is a journalist and editor. Over the course of her career, she has served as a foreign correspondent for a number of American newspapers, reporting from various countries, primarily in the Middle East. In addition, she has worked as a journalist based out of Washington, DC. She serves as both publisher and the editor-in-chief for Women's International Net, a worldwide online magazine that focuses on women and women's issues on a global scale. Aside from her writing and editorial efforts, she has also taught journalism at several universities. In conjunction with her husband, Barry Rubin, known for his work as the editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs, Rubin has written and/or edited several books on the Middle East, terrorism, and America's modern-day reputation in the global arena.

Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography, written by Rubin and her husband, is an in-depth look at the life and political career of the infamous Palestinian leader. Much of the book paints Arafat in a negative light from the standpoint of his political achievements, noting that he indulged in terrorist behavior and did all in his power to sabotage any peace talks designed to reconcile Palestine with Israel under his watch. They touch on his role as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), but do not offer readers much in the way of analysis of the group, focusing instead on Arafat alone. The book was published shortly before Arafat's death, and as such only looks at his career as a work still in progress. Moshe Dann, writing for the Middle East Quarterly, remarked that the work is "essential in understanding who Ararat really is and why peace between Palestinians and Israelis cannot happen as long as he is around to prevent it." C.J. Krisinger, in a contribution for the Naval War College Review, declared that "this book performs a valuable service as a primer on the characters, organizations, and connections in the shadowy world of Middle Eastern terrorism and Islamic radicalism."

In Hating America: A History, Rubin and her husband contend that foreign hatred of the United States and its citizens is not a modern occurrence, but rather a phenomenon that dates back to the origins of the nation. Different groups or individuals hold different things against the country, with reasons behind the sentiments ranging from dislike of what they see as the all-pervasive pop-culture, sex, and violence that motivates Americans to issues with the country's overall affluence and the strength and resources of the U.S. military. America's global reputation as a superpower, driven by capitalism, in particular lends itself toward creating resentment, a reputation that has only grown in the wake of World War Two, when non-democratic nations began to regard the U.S. as something of a threat. The Rubins address various aspects of the ways in which the U.S. has been vilified, concentrating in general on the opinions held in European nations. Critics had mixed reactions to the book, some finding it somewhat repetitive while others praise the detailed look at how the United States' reputation has developed over the years. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly declared of Hating America: "Short on in-depth analysis, this book provides entertaining glimpses of a nation that may have invented public relations to combat its own image problem." Dominick Cavallo, writing for the Historian, commented that "the authors gloss over or ignore aggressive, arrogant, and violent American behavior (past and present) that should prompt perfectly reasonable individuals to question the nation's core values." However, Vernon Ford, writing for Booklist, found that "the Rubins … insightfully recount the long and troubled history of animosity directed at the U.S."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, April 1, 2006, Alan McPherson, review of Hating America: A History, p. 436.

Booklist, November 15, 2004, Vernon Ford, review of Hating America, p. 550.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, July 1, 2005, S. Prisco, review of Hating America.

Commentary, January 1, 2004, "The Eliminationist," p. 58.

Historian, spring, 2006, Dominick Cavallo, review of Hating America, p. 201.

Journal of American History, December 1, 2005, Paul Hollander, review of Hating America, p. 946.

Library Journal, September 15, 2003, Efraim Karsh, "Arafat's War: The Man and His Battle for Israeli Conquest," p. 74.

Middle East Journal, January 1, 2004, review of Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography, p. 164.

Middle East Quarterly, January 1, 2003, Jonathan Schanzer, review of Anti-American Terrorism and the Middle East: A Documentary Reader, p. 85; summer, 2004, Moshe Dann, review of Yasir Arafat, p. 94.

Military Review, January 1, 2004, Matthew J. Morgan, review of Anti-American Terrorism and the Middle East.

Naval War College Review, spring, 2004, C.J. Krisinger, review of Yasir Arafat, p. 188.

Publishers Weekly, August 16, 2004, review of Hating America, p. 55.

Wall Street Journal Western Edition, August 22, 2003, "The Relentless Career of a Confidence Man," p. 10.