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A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time
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A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time Customer Reviews
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Re-cap of NBC nightly news on Israel for the last 50 years
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Review of 3rd Edtion of Howard Sachar's 'History of Israel'
Given that this book calls itself a History of Israel; I am somewhat puzzled by the contents of the first three chapters which deal with events outside of Israel. Only when we get to the 4th chapter do we begin to see the history of modern Israel.
A History of Israel should be about the history of Israel and not about European Jewish communities. This is fundamental and goes a long way in explaining what went wrong with this book. A far more honest title would be "Israel as seen in the imagination of Jews living outside Israel from the rise of Zionism to our time"
As a history I think it should rise to a higher level rather than sound like a summary of NBC newscasts over the past 50 years. Sadly, this is exactly what it reads like to me. Well written, interesting, and yet doesn't really reach the level of being a history.
In the last edition (2nd) the author hadn't yet discovered the Russian immigrants and their contribution to Israeli High-Tech. This time he gives the Russians and Israeli High-Tech a meager 3 pages in the new Chapter XXXIX.
As a coup de grace for this NBC nightly news summary I go to Chapter XLI and pages 1130-1131 where I read a polemical description of the Israelis living over the 1949 armistice line which was marked on the armistice map in green ink and later called the "green line". They are referred to as "an agreesive minority of fundamentalist zealots" , "colonialist militants", "inciters of mob intimidation" , "transgressors of public morality", and "migratory adventurers". I actually live here and the description doesn't ring true to me.
Also, Prof. Sachar claims that there are "at least 800,000" Israelis living over the 1949 armistice line in the remainder of what was Mandatory Palestine. I know lots of people who will agree with "about 500,000" but not a single person living here in Israel who will agree with a figure of 800,000 which is a difference of a mere 300,000 people. A rounding error in Mexico City perhaps, but here that is still considered a lot of people.
It's relatively easy to read, and it's interesting, but as a history of Israel which is what it calls inself I give it 2 points. I recommend spending your money on some of the other wonderful books offered for sale from [...] and leaving this one for people who like reading historical fiction. |
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