Dr. Joyce STARR Publishing Blog

If you're searching for Dr. Joyce Starr, you're just a click away. I created this site many years ago and then moved on to establish...

And if you're searching for our Defense Kit for condo owners and HOA members, you're also in the right place. Just follow the links or click the image!

Looking forward to seeing you at one of our main sites.

Homeowners Defense Kit: How to Defend Your Condo Association Rights, Homeowner Association (HOA) Rights or Co-op Rights.

Successful strategies for dealing with board abuse of power. Discover how to fight arbitrary home owner association rules. Avoid costly mistakes that result in home owner association liens and home owner association foreclosures. Learn how to protect your home owner rights and investment with this vital home owners info resource guide. Our three-book Homeowners Defense Kit will protect your peace of mind, savings, health and home.

TESTIMONIALS

"Excellent, Informative and Instructional -- Amazon.com. In Defend Your Condo & Homeowner Rights, Dr. Joyce Starr describes the punitive and abusive nature of runaway condo and HOA boards (how they run away with your rights!) and precisely what to do about it. Her book provided an island of sanity and confirmation that I was not alone, nor was I imagining that I was surrounded by shark-infested condo waters.

"These waters consist of at least three distinct species that tag-team their prey: the board itself, the board's "Dream Team" of over paid lawyers and the so-called "Management Company" co-conspirators. Dr. Starr describes in amazing detail how corrupt, unfair and vengeful these little people with big power can be if left unchecked and unchallenged. She also explains how checking and challenging them can unleash their "how dare you challenge my power" furry. In shark-infested waters, most try to remain still in hopes of not being noticed or become paralyzed with fear. Dr. Starr offers a weapon of choice. Her book is packed with example after example of how condo and HOA members can defend themselves and fight for their rights in troubled homeowner waters."

--Gary Hoch (Atlanta)

"This book helps every condo owner or hoa member understand the true reality of condo and HOA living."

--Florida State Representative Julio Robaina

"A riveting work that condo and HOA owners everywhere will identify with."

--Jan Bergemann, Cyber Citizens for Justice

Dr. Joyce, thank you for "The Kit," received it yesterday afternoon. I naturally perused your book with delight, although anguished over your ordeal. What a nightmare! I am so extremely sorry of your torment by such a deviously evil group. Yours is all too true a saga of the indecency, corruption and avariciousness so prevalent in humanity. Will this civilization never accept that "We Are Our Brothers Keepers"?

I am so fulfilled by your unwavering, although painstakingly, "trial by fire" triumphs. Well done, Dr. Joyce, well done. God bless you and Robert. I laud you both for your meticulous undertakings in your eventual conquest over evil. I am so proud you chose not to back down, having experienced similar harassment and intimidation (in another arena,) Your book is a reinforcement of that belief and I delight in having found my way into your learned environment in the Condo/Hoa arena. Yet still...I would prefer a cabin on a lake (without deed restrictions) and bears for neighbors!

I found significant references for resource throughout your book, particularly one relating to concerns of this current HOA Board (pages 30 and 56 regarding "breach of fiduciary duty" (original Builder/Developer HOA Board;) and "Cases" on page 80 of personal interest to me. Thank you so much for sharing your personal experiences in a very enlightening read. I agree your book "should be made into a movie!"

--God bless, Joan, Florida

You are to be commended for your courage, caring and commitment."

--Valmore Lucier, Florida’s First Condo Election Monitor.

Thank-you for your wonderful contributions to this important issue.

--Attorney Barry Boca, Florida

"I’d hit rock bottom. I can’t wait for your next edition.

--E.S, Miami

"I see light at the end of the tunnel. You have given me hope!"

--Florence G, Boca Raton

Kissing Through Glass: The Invisible Shield Between Americans & Israelis

Dr. Joyce Starr
Contemporary Books, 1991

Joyce Starr penetrated the minds and hearts of Americans and Israelis, convincing them to share, with raw honesty, their views of each other.

Based on hundreds of interviews on both sides of the Atlantic, including many Israeli leaders and legends (Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin, Shimon Peres, Moshe Arens, Ariel Sharon, to name a few), Starr reveals the secret frustrations that shape personal, diplomatic and business relations. These include:

What both sides truly think of one another; How they speak a different language, even when both are communicating in English; Who is the true optimist, and who is the pessimist?; Which side places a higher value on friendship? How American and Israeli officials manipulate each other during critical negotiations. Why the taste of the coffee can count as much as the contract. Why Israelis would rather lose the contract than the argument.

Reviews & Testimonials

THE WASHINGTON POST BOOKWORLD

In an enthusiastic approach, Washington writer Joyce Starr examines such points as why Israelis are obsessed with not saying 'Thank you'; the 'charming lawlessness' involved in avoiding taxes and why more American Jews arrive in Israel prepared for burial than as live immigrants.

THE WASHINGTON TIMES, Jeff Kamen

Joyce Starr gives the reader a rare opportunity to go behind the headlines of the American/Israeli relationship. Kissing Through Glass is perhaps the most appropriate metaphor for this relationship. By allowing us to 'overhear' her conversations, she has treated both the issues and the personalities with a uniquely personal touch.

BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES, James Besser

Joyce Starr has always been a person who looks at familiar problems through unusual lenses. And sometimes even the obvious still has the power to shock. So it is with the disturbing truths she tells in her controversial new book. Americans and Israelis are so different in fundamental respects, from their outlook on life to their approach toward compromise, according to Starr, a Middle East expert who has advised three presidents. She is aware that her book will touch some exposed nerves.

BOOK REVIEW DIGEST

Starr is a story teller, drawing her material out of chance encounters and personal experiences. She allows simple engagements with life to disclose the values supporting the two societies. To students of Israeli society, Starr's account will strike a chord of recognition; to those unfamiliar with Israel, this book is an excellent introduction and a very good read.

THE JERUSALEM POST, Miriam Kraus

Joyce Starr's colorful book is devoted to the multi-faceted relationship between the U.S. and Israel. Her sources are Israelis and Americans in high positions, constantly engaged in a dialogue in their capacity as diplomats and negotiators, leaders of the American Jewish community, journalists and businessmen. The rhythm, style, and sense of humor make for easy reading.

Don Sider, Military Correspondent, Time Magazine

Joyce Starr's book was a revelation to me. I have never understood what the tangled American-Israeli relationship was all about--until I read this lucid and fascinating work. Joyce Starr has done a terrific job of telling this story. She has woven many diverse monologues into a chorus.

Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat

Congratulations for the well-deserved recognition (your book) has achieved. You have done a wonderful job over the past decade and made a remarkable reputation for yourself. This book will only add to it all!

Abraham Foxman, National Director, Anti-Defamation League

Starr's conclusions and insights...should be read by diplomats as well as American Jewish leaders. It is difficult to compress in this review the rich detail and nuances of her findings

Ambassador Avi Pazner, Director General, The Prime Minister's Bureau, Israel

Dr. Starr's book indeed constitutes an in-depth study of all the ties that unite Israel and the United States, and Jews on both sides of the ocean. It offers the reader a true perspective on different approaches to this very special and complicated relationship.

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Kissing Through Glass: American/Israeli Culture Clash