Posted: 11/10/2008 4:54:00 PM
Author: Compiled by Andrea Rapp for the AJL
Source: This bibliography was announced on the AJL website on November 6, 2008.
Israel at Sixty Bibliography
Compiled by Andrea Rapp for the Association of Jewish Libraries
Gilbert, Martin, Israel: A History. Santa Barbara, CA: McNally & Loftin , 2008.
A political history of Israel, with dozens of Gilbert’s famous historical maps at the back.
Rosenthal, Donna. The Israelis: Ordinary People in an
Extraordinary Land. New York: Free Press,
2003.
A vivid mosaic of portraits of the amazing variety of people who constitute “the Israelis.”
Laqueur, Walter. A History of Zionism. (NY:Schocken, 2003).
A straightforward, unsentimental history. For an unabashedly partisan defense of Zionism, see Gil Troy’s
Why I am a Zionist. Montreal: Bronfman Jewish Education Centre, 2006.
Eretz: the Book, 1985-2005. Tel Aviv: The Eretz Group, 2005.
A selection of sixty articles from Eretz Magazine, with beautiful color photographs by Israel’s best
photographers, in 5 categories: Geography, Nature, History/Archaeology, Modern Israel, and
Religion/Culture. Meet the Israel that exists apart from politics or international conflict. (See also Eretz
Magazine, 5 issues per year, and special volumes, including Israel 60. All available at www.eretz.com.)
Oren, Michael. Six Days of War: June, 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. New
York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
An accomplished historian and writer examines the war and its background, the personalities involved, and
its transforming effect on the Middle East.
Dershowitz, Alan M. The Case for Israel. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
In a question and answer format, Dershowitz presents two dozen charges and calumnies made against
Israel, then skillfully and with documentation provides a rebuttal for each
Levin, Kenneth. The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege. Hanover, NH: Smith and
Kraus, 2005.
The author, who has advanced degrees in both history and medicine, is a member of department of
psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He has written a work of political history and psychology to explain
the roots of the Oslo era and its tragic denouement for Israel. (See also, Jews and Power, by Ruth Wisse.
New York: Schocken, 2007).
Gordis, Daniel. Home to Stay: One American Family’s Chronicle of Miracles and Struggles in
Contemporary Israel. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003 (previously published as “If a Place
Can Make You Cry.”)
A very personal account, mainly in the form of correspondence to friends in the States, of an American
family’s aliyah and adjustment to life as Israelis, from the euphoria of hopes for peace after Oslo, to the
reality of the ongoing struggle with Arab terrorism.
Strober, Deborah Hart and Gerald S. Israel at Sixty: An Oral History of a Nation Reborn. Hoboken,
NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
Each chapter of Israeli history, from the days of the Mandate to the present, is seen through the eyes of the
men and women who experienced them first hand. The interviewees quoted are men and women, immigrant
and native-born, right wing and socialist, nationalist and post-Zionist. Many are well-known political figures
and writers, but others are simply Israeli citizens. On these pages, they challenge and debate one another and
compare their memories and interpretations of events.
Lozowick, Yaacov. Right To Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel’s Wars.. NY:Doubleday, 2003.
The title says it all, in this easy-to-read, documented account.
FICTION:
Uris, Leon. Exodus. Wings, 2000.
The still-popular epic novel about of the birth of the state of Israel.
Yellin, Tamar. Genizah at the House of Shepher.. New Milford, CN: Toby Press, 2005.
A historical novel set against the backdrop of Jerusalem over a hundred and thirty years that tells of a
particular family's involvement with a mysterious and valuable codex that the heroine finds in an attic.
Shalev, Meir. A Pigeon and a Boy, by Meir Shalev. NY:Schocken, 2007.
Two intertwining stories set in Israel: one tells of a pigeon handler--carrier pigeons were used in the 1948
War of Independence--who is mortally wounded and dispatches one last pigeon before dying. The bird
carries his gift to the girl he loves. In the other tale, a tour guide specializing in bird-watching trips falls in
love again with a childhood girlfriend.
Websites:
1) www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org
An online encyclopedia about Judaism, Israel and Zionism, it also contains Mitchell Bard’s Myths and
Facts: a Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, which can (and should) also be purchased in book form.
2) www.palestinefacts.org
Click on “History” for the easiest-to-use source for concise information about the history of Israel and the
Arab-Israeli conflict.
3)www.jpost.com For the latest news and features from Israel, the Jerusalem Post.
VIDEOS:
Pillar of Fire: A Television History of Israel’s Rebirth. Created by Yigal Lossin, Israel
Broadcasting Authority, 2005.
3 DVD series covers the story of Israel from pre- World War I to 1948. Spellbinding archival footage
shows the early pioneers, interviews with leaders such as Golda Meir and Yigal Yadin, the Exodus ship,
footage of Ben Gurion reading the Declaration of Independence, and much more—amazing to see and watch.
Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East, produced by honestreporting.com
A documentary of the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the unraveling of the Oslo process into
violence and terror.
No Safe Place: Six Lives Forever Changed. Narrated by Kelsey Grammer, this one-hour documentary
examines the lives of several families whose lives were forever changed by terrorism. (available from
librariansforfairness.org)
