Stephen M. E. Marmura is assistant professor of sociology at St. Francis Xavier University.

This book examines the relative benefits which the internet provides to a range of weak and powerful actors in American society. The Arab/Israeli conflict is utilized as a topic holding common interest to all of those considered. Evidence suggests that the Web's exploitation by countless competing interests is contributing to the consolidation of dominant discourses and policies surrounding American Mid-East policy, while exacerbating processes of social fragmentation in civil society.

Chapter 1 Table of Contents Chapter 2 Acknowledgments Chapter 3 1 Introduction: Identity and Authority in the Age of Networks Chapter 4 2 Net-Based Activism and American Mid-East Policy, Part I: Grassroots Mobilization and Political Opportunity Chapter 5 3 Net-Based Activism and Mid-East Policy, Part II: Public Opinion Chapter 6 4 The Voice of Legitimacy:CNN.com and the Arab/Israeli Conflict Chapter 7 5 Hate and Holy War on the WWW, Part I: Confronting the Other Chapter 8 6 Hate and Holy War on the WWW, Part II: The Struggle for Influence Chapter 9 7 Hegemony Reconsidered: The Internet, Civil Society, and Social Fragmentation Chapter 10 Works Cited Chapter 11 Index