Israel : a history

by Martin Gilbert

Paper Book, 2008

Status

Available

Call number

956.94

Genres

Religion & Spirituality

Publication

Toronto : Key Porter Books, c2008.

Description

Fleeing persecution in Europe, thousands of Jewish immigrants settled in Palestine after World War II. Renowned historian Martin Gilbert crafts a riveting account of Israel's turbulent history, from the birth of the Zionist movement under Theodor Herzl through its unexpected declaration of statehood in 1948, and through the many wars, conflicts, treaties, negotiations, and events that have shaped its past six decades-including the Six Day War, the Intifada, Suez, and the Yom Kippur War. Drawing on a wealth of first-hand source materials, eyewitness accounts, and his own personal and intimate knowledge of the country, Gilbert weaves a complex narrative that's both gripping and informative, and probes both the ideals and realities of modern statehood.… (more)

Media reviews

History in Review

This is phenomenally readable and engaging work, although some readers may find Gilbert's lack of interpretation off-putting. Personally, I liked Gilbert style. He provides the reader with a plethora of facts and enough background from which to interpret the facts. However, he does not dictate that

this or that is 'right'. He allows and encourages the reader to come to their own conclusions.

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— 2 more

Foreign Affairs

"Of our conceptions of the past," Thomas Hobbes wrote, "we make a future." That surely is what the furor is all about. Gilbert's Israel: A History, a national epic presenting the older canon with narrative skill, lies outside that ongoing debate.

The Independent

In short, despite his misgivings about the direction an increasingly fundamentalist country is taking, Gilbert's book is not really an objective history of Israel but a celebration of that nation-state, and should be read with this in mind.