Winner of the Jewish Book of the Year Award
The first comprehensive yet accessible history of the state of Israel from its inception to present day, from Daniel Gordis, "one of the most respected Israel analysts" (The Forward) living and writing in Jerusalem.
Israel is a tiny state, and yet it has captured the world’s attention, aroused its imagination, and lately, been the object of its opprobrium. Why does such a small country speak to so many global concerns? More pressingly: Why does Israel make the decisions it does? And what lies in its future?
We cannot answer these questions until we understand Israel’s people and the questions and conflicts, the hopes and desires, that have animated their conversations and actions. Though Israel’s history is rife with conflict, these conflicts do not fully communicate the spirit of Israel and its people: they give short shrift to the dream that gave birth to the state, and to the vision for the Jewish people that was at its core. Guiding us through the milestones of Israeli history, Gordis relays the drama of the Jewish people’s story and the creation of the state. Clear-eyed and erudite, he illustrates how Israel became a cultural, economic and military powerhouse—but also explains where Israel made grave mistakes and traces the long history of Israel’s deepening isolation.
With Israel, public intellectual Daniel Gordis offers us a brief but thorough account of the cultural, economic, and political history of this complex nation, from its beginnings to the present. Accessible, levelheaded, and rigorous, Israel sheds light on the Israel’s past so we can understand its future. The result is a vivid portrait of a people, and a nation, reborn.
Author(s): Daniel Gordis
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2016
Language: English
Pages: 560
Tags: Israel;History;Jewish;Zionism;Zion;Holocaust;Yitzhak Rabin;Six-Day War;Yom Kippur;Jerusalem;IDF;
Dedication
Epigraph
Introduction: A Grand Human Story
1 Poetry and Politics: The Jewish Nation Seeks a Home
2 Some Spot of a Native Land
3 A Conversation, Not an Ideology: Zionist Divisions at the Turn of the Century
4 From a Dream to Glimmers of Reality
5 The Balfour Declaration: The Empire Endorses the State
6 Nowhere to Go, Even If They Could Leave
7 The Yishuv Resists the British, the Arabs Battle Partition
8 Independence: The State Is Born
9 From Dreams of a State to the Reality of Statehood
10 Israel Enters the International Arena
11 Israel Confronts the Holocaust
12 Six Days of War Change a Country Forever
13 The Burden of Occupation
14 Yom Kippur War: The “Conception” Crashes
15 Revolution Within the Revolution: The Rise and Revenge of Israel’s Political Right
16 Taking a Page from the Zionists: The Rise of Palestinian Nationalism
17 The Peace Process Stalls
18 A Jewish Renaissance in the Jewish State
Conclusion: A Century After Balfour—“A National Home for the Jewish People”
Acknowledgments
Appendix A: Glossary of People Mentioned
Appendix B: Glossary of Non-English Terms
Appendix C: Israel’s Declaration of Independence
Appendix D: Israeli Prime Ministers and the American and Israeli Presidents with Whom They Worked
Appendix E: Israeli Political Parties and Their Changing Balance of Power
Appendix F: For Further Reading
Notes
Works Cited
Index
Map Section
Photo Section
About the Author
Praise
Also by Daniel Gordis
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher
