5 comments about Lone Wolf: A Biography of Vladimir (Ze'Ev) Jabotinsky Two Volume Set.

1. An unapologetic biography of a controversial figure in Jewish/Israeli history. Mr. Katz's book is painstakingly well documented. It is more than the history of a single person; it provides a detailed look at competing Jewish ideologies and their role in the formation of Israel. Though biased, it is on the whole, well balanced.



2. Zeev (meaning wolf, in hebrew) Jabotinsky was one of the greatest leaders ever, and the greatest liberal Zionist leader. His works can not be denied. Because of his many deeds, he was admired by many - and hated by the rest. And he is the subject of this book, like many other books and articles. But this one is special - the auther spent 7 years of his life reserching and writing it, and those seven years have beared fruit. The writing is of a very high quality, and the contence is extensive. Itws like no other book about Jabotinsky I know. After reading, you will enrich not only your mind - but also your spirit, by knowing this great man. Highly recomended, for all people - Zionists, students, and anyone seeking pure knolage and feeding.



3. This book is a real eye opener. It completly changed my perspective on the history of the Middle East and how the British, who so often have come accross as the "white knight" was in fact the dirty thief.

   The book is a monster in size and in the amount of information it presents. It documented and footnoted to a degree that one would expect from a work of this nature.

   I highly suggest it to anyone who wants to find out about the history of modern Israel and how the wolrd powers did what they do best, exploit. I truly learned much!




4. Reading this book is a great intelectual adventure. There are a lot of information and the author has a very clear and envolving writing, always creating expectative over what's coming next. The author also mixes narrative with a lot of opinions and analysis about the facts. There are, as well, many quottings from other works about Jobotinsky, along with several transcriptions of classified official documents that shed light into controversial facts. The author is not afraid of polemics and gives new perspectives over matters treated as tabu, like Ben Gurion, Weizman, The Zionist Organization and the Histadrut. Much enfasis is given to Jabotinsky's unstopabble fight for the jewish rights in palestine and abroad, as well as his unfearing steadfastness against anyone who denied the goal of creating a jewish state. The book will give a complete understanding of the Revisionist movement, the British Rule in Israel, the internal Zionist Organization politics and its blunders, the arab behavior, among others. By reading this book you will also be able to better understand contemporary israeli politics and the relationship with the arab countries. The book, although very pleasant, takes quite a bit to be read, but it is a must for anyone who wants to know one of the greatest zionist and jewish leaders ever and get into the politics of the pre-state period.



5. Shmuel Katz has managed to collect so much useful, important and fascinating information in this biography of Ze'ev Jabotinsky that it could stand on its own as a first class historical review of early 20th century Zionist and Palestinian history. Through obsessive documentation of his topic, Katz demolishes a number of historical myths surrounding both the roots of Zionism and the founding of the state of Israel. He does this all in a highly compelling and readable style, which is certainly helpful, given its 1800-page size. It is an extraordinary read and essential to fully understanding the origins of Israel and its conflict vis a vis the Arabs, as well as the life of this unique and gifted individual.

No comments about A Promise Fulfilled: Theodor Herzl, Chaim Weizmann, David Ben-Gurion, and the Creation of the State of Israel.

2 comments about Elusive Prophet: Ahad Ha'am and the Origins of Zionism.

1. At best it describes the relationships within Ha'am's life as reflective of his peculiar ideological formulations without. At least that is what I found to be most interesting. At the least it was a truthful account of certain trends within Asher Ginzberg's intellectual life. Still, the author didn't fully address the fundamental yet implicit drives/reactions that animated Ha'am; namely, civilizationalism, evolution, utopia- anti.utopia...Asher didn't merely "want out" of russia (or later as he found out, europe) for pragmatic reasons, he instead pursued an idea far ahead of his time: civilizational sovereignty, a thorough break I think with nation-state building that reigned and still does in most of the world today. Still this work does further a discussion, and I thank the author for writing it.



2. This is definitely a five-star book: an exemplary intellectual and cultural history of an underexamined figure in early Zionism. I do think that the editorial reviews above, and the reader review below, do misrepresent the importance of the book in certain ways. Ahad Ha'am (or "One of the People"---"Ha'am" is not and cannot be used as if a last name as below!) was a central figure in early Zionism, and yet represents a strand of "cultural" or "spiritual" Zionism opposed to the political tactics and image of a polis in Zion represented by Herzl. Herzl won. It is important to note not only the ways that Ahad Ha'am influenced today's Zionism, but also to identify in him an idealistic, spiritually rich, and above all tolerant and inclusive vision of Zionism that has since been lost. All of this comes through in this marvelous book. I also handle these themes in my recent book _Prague Territories: National Conflict and Cultural Innovation in Franz Kafka's Fin de Siecle_: Ahad Ha'am and Martin Buber were especially influential in Kafka's Prague.

No comments about The New Jerusalem (Zionist Power in America).

No comments about Land Divided (House of Israel, Volume 2).

5 comments about The Jewish State.

1. Herzl's book is a must-read for anyone who wants to get a sense of the Zionist movement and the passion of its most famous leader. It's a short book, easy to read, but provocative-- situating the reader in a period when Jews had both become emancipated from the ghetto and begun to attain some social and economic power. No surprise that anti-Semitism was an almost immediate result. I recommend it for Jews and non-Jews alike.



2. Not the best book to read on the subject, lacked a lot of information and found it to be not very interesting. Have read better ones on this subject.



3. This book is the basis of how the state Israel should be created according to the end of the 19th century "Wiener" Theodor Herzl.
   In fact many of his considerings were used to create the zionist state Israel, except his idealistic and visionary view where Palestinians (Filistines originally from the Greek island Philistos) were given "a piece of the cake": jews and Palestinians were considered in his opinion to live peacefully and happy together in this "altneuland" or"aviv".



4. In this review I refer to this edition,from Filiquarian Publishing,only. Without question this document has extreme historical and philosophical importance. Everyone who has an interest in the history of Zionism, Israel, Jewish migration and development, or even just a general interest in sociology or economics should have a copy in their library. But not this edition! It is so rife with typographical errors, misspellings, dropped words and such that it is often unreadable. An hour or two's work by a copy editor would have made a world of difference.



5. First published in 1896, this book gave rise to modern Zionism. Given the impact of the Middle East situation on the planet, this book should be read by everyone to better understand the world we live in today.
   
   For me, two things stand out from the book. Firstly, the "internalisation" of anti-semitism (see "Causes of Anti-Semitism" on page 23) whereby Herzl himself accepts (in my view quite wrongly) that European anti-semitism is inevitable due to certain characteristics of the Jews. Secondly, although leaving the question open of whether to emigrate to Argentina or Palestine to create the Jewish state, in either case Herzl just ignores the fact that both countries were inhabited, with people who might not want incomers creating a new state for themselves in their midst.

5 comments about Future Fastforward: The Zionist Anglo-American Empire Meltdown.

1. Matthias Chang's work is one of the most important and insightful books I have read in years. And I read all the time. Herein, Chang makes a thorough, scholarly, and lawyerly argument that the main problem freedom loving people now face is the Zionist Anglo-American empire. This is simply the best and most complete explanation of current events I have yet seen.
   
   Within the corpus of this text, Attorney Chang makes his case brilliantly. He describes the machinations of the aforementioned Zionist Anglo-American empire, including the tragic influence those machinations have had on the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It is terribly important, I think, for Westerners to gain Mr. Chang's unique perspective on this. An ethnic Chinese and praticing Catholic, Chang lives and works in a Malaysian society heavily influenced by Islam. Through his unique and discerning lens, we can all see the tragedy that Zionism has meant to the world, and the heavy toll of blood that this insidious ideology will inflict on the world in the coming days.
   
   Toward the end of his important and insightful book, Chang predicts that Israel is poised to incite, and to lose, its second war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Now, the book was completed in early 2005. And, this review is being written in August of 2006, just after the conclusion of the war Chang so accurately predicted. Certainly, Matthias Chang is a man of insight and daring. His significant work is to be honored.
   
   One of the central insights in this book is Chang's observation that it is corruption of religion that has led to so many of the world's problems. Witness the insanity of "Christian Zionism", Wahabbism, and the actions of such as Baruch Goldstein, murderer of innocent worshipers of a different faith. Chang hits the nail on the head. And we all had better be paying close attention.
   
   Unfortunately, this excellent book is not currently available from Amazon. But it can be acquired from American Free Press. I ordered from them, and received my copy in about a week. Truth seekers are strongly advised to pick up this terribly imporant book. God bless.



2. The symbolism alone on the front cover is enough to evoke more than a questioning glance, but what is undeniable is that Matthias Chang had put together a hard hitting and credible compilation that is sure to get your attention. Originally released in Malaysia but is published for the first time here in America, it gives us a perspective from a former high ranking official in another country. Despite every effort on the part of the Bush and Blair administrations to con us into believing that we are safer, Chang gives us a more reliable and realistic overview of the world situation at hand. And it does not look good.
   
   Chang's warnings trumpet the terrible fate that awaits us all if we do not wake-up to the dangers of the malevolent forces controlling the world's money, religion, and the media. "Future FastForward" will confront you head on. But Chang has not rewritten history here, but merely dug deep into the underbelly of the machine and turned up hard evidence in the form of incriminating documents, speeches, and writings, enabling him to show you *in-their-own-words* who is hawking for the Zionist Anglo-American agenda with the intent to indoctrinate and deceive the public into supplying arms, money, support, and in the case of Iraq and the coming wars.. blood.
   
   There will be those who will squirm in their chairs when reading this book because they are not used to the frank discussion on Zionism. However, after reading the book it should be crystal clear that "Zionism et al", is not restricted to any one geographical locale or race and deserves the same close scrutiny that any other modern day political ideology ought to receive.
   Mr. Chang has provided us with this very much needed scrutiny and the book is a necessary read for any human being who hopes to have an understanding of the malevolent forces leading the world towards disaster.
   
   The book however is not without its minor flaws and my biggest gripe is the text formatting which takes a bit of getting used to. Also Chang often starts on a thread that he doesn't finish up until sometimes a chapter or two later. Despite this, the author's biggest gift to us is how to be a discerning reader as statements made by the elites are often shrouded in innocuous terminology so as not to blow their cover.
   
   Considering that the book was written well before the recent assault on Lebanon, it is a testament to his insight that he correctly predicted the tragedy that recently unfolded there and that this country would figure in as a pre-cursor to a wider conflict. As Chang so aptly phrases it "the twin pillars" have been erected - only the "keystone" need now be placed before all hell breaks loose.
   
   This book also examines the coming financial train wreck that will soon be unleashed upon the population as the unsustainable `war economy' starts to buckle under the weight of debt. I suggest you pick up a copy soon and start reading.



3. This is a great read. The author gives a good comtemporary history of events and analysis of the world we know today - stuff you normally do not get to read in mainstream text or press. Extremely well researched and documented. In sum it is an expose of theft of wealth on a grand scale by a small group of people in the name of democracy and free trade. What we lay reader shd appreciate is that this is a work from an individual who has spent his time in top political echelon of Dr. Mahathir and not some free lancing activist.



4. the author obviously has a deep understanding of the zionist-american-british cabal yet the feel of the book was just not quite right for me.
   
   difficult to pinpoint where my discomfort with the book comes from. i did not enjoy the author's moments of what seemed to be sudden, emotional ranting which was so far removed from the legal-rational approach that he started out with. i appreciate his zealousness about the topic, but the emotional outbursts made his opinions less credible.
   
   then, the author writes about christianity with no deep understanding of what it is about. i would agree that the whole christian-zionist issue is a significant concern for christians from a spiritual standpoint. what i didn't find agreement with was the author's broad brushed, shallow approach to what it means to be a follower of christ. perhaps that had to do more with my own expectation than anything else.
   
   i dunno.
   
   5 for knowledge of and passion over the impact of the israel-american-british cabal. 1 for emotionalism. that equals 3.
   
   i have already read much concerning the cabal. if someone is not acquainted with it, this book is a good resource. as it is, after reading the book - apart from discovering that the word "jew" was a relatively modern one - i could have not read it and it would have been okay.



5. This rant can only serve to satisfy sensationalists who like to telling fantastic stories at the pub, and do not worry much about facts. As such it's quite an achievement; seldom has so much spurious and pretentious nonsense been published in a single tome. Even the cover is worthy of the cheapest conspirationist quasi-non-fiction; complete with pretentious claims about 'truth revealed'. I suspect that this writer is just out for some quick money, because the whole thing is so glaringly ill-researched and ill-founded, that he cannot possibly believe what he's writing. I was wondering halfway through if the real intention is to make a humourous mockery of conspiration theories, but unfortunately it's just far too long winded and poorly written to achieve any semblance of comic effect.

3 comments about Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881-1948 (Stanford Studies in Jewish History and C).

1. This book differs from many histories of Israel by reaching into 19th century to examine and explain the roots and context for the Jewish nationalism that preceded Israel's 1948 establishment as a state.

   Shapira's first chapter explains the plight of Europe's oppressed Jews, which led to Theodore Herzl's convocation of the first Zionist meeting in Switzerland in 1896. Although periodic slaughters never reached the level of the Chmielnicki pogroms in 1648 and 1649, which left more than 100,000 Jews dead, as the 20th century began, anti-Semitism in Europe remained a terrible force. The 19th and early 20th century were meanwhile an era of universal nationalism. Peoples around the globe reached into their respective pasts, bolstering identities and calling for national borders. For the Jewish people, nationalism was heightened by a threat to existence that few if other people (except the Turkish Armenians) experienced.

   Shapira shows admirably that hope and self-preservation, not belligerence, drove the first and second waves of Jewish immigrants from Europe and elsewhere in the Middle East to Palestine. From 1881 through 1914, Jewish immigrants joined the families of co-religionists who had lived in Palestine since before the destruction of the second Temple in 70 AD. Some sensed hostility among young Arabs of Jaffa. Others, like David Ben Gurion and Berl Katznelson, remarked on little about Arab inhabitants except their extreme poverty, illiteracy and the diseases by which they were afflicted. The immigrants had no complex ideology or political structure; They merely wanted to live in Zion, which the Jewish people had for 2,000 years considered their homeland. Funded by Jewish organizations and philanthropists such as Baron Rothschild, they began buying land in quantity.

   While some Jewish settlers developed a chauvinistic attitude, Shapira also shows that they had no plans to conquer resident Arabs. On the contrary, they adapted local customs and culture--wearing kaffia headdresses, riding horses and carrying weapons.

   From 1905 on, as pogroms against Jews in Russia intensified, Jewish settlers arrived understanding the need for self-defense. Yet, no discernable confrontation between Arabs and Jews took shape until the Young Turk revolution rocked the Ottoman empire in 1908, bringing Arab nationalism to Syria in particular. Even then, disputes in Palestine remained local and concerned grazing rights and water. Buying land, Jews learned, did not always entitle them to water sources on it. Where Arabs considered grazing pastures public domain, Jews who had purchased land expected it to be theirs' alone. As they had in Europe, Jewish settlers optimistically hoped for peaceful relations with non-Jewish neighbors.

   As World War I approached, however, moods crystallized. Zionist immigrants burdened their new situation with their previous outlook. As in Europe, they attributed the animosity of others to agitation and incitement, in this case, by Christian and urban Arabs. Here, as in Europe, incitement definitely existed. As the Ottoman grip on Palestine gave way to anarchy, anti-Jewish hatred increased. Jewish land purchasers were constantly beset by sellers' fraud: Claims and counterclaims, violence and counterviolence arose. Worse, legal purchases often displaced fellaheen--tenant farmers.

   Based on their European experience, when violence arose against the Jews, they assumed the authorities would not protect them. Jewish settlers who had arrived hoping for peace and security in their ancient land discovered that they had exchanged one "existential threat for another." Jewish defensive thinking gelled after the Yom Kippur 1928 and August 1929 riots and lasted until 1936, when the Arab Rebellion--during which Jews were murdered with abandon--stimulated a Jewish offensive strategy.

   This was followed by the most traumatic 9 years in Jewish history--1939 through 1947, during which the spontaneous response in Palestine was to go to the aid of Europe's Jews. Jews came, rightly, to believe that they could rely only on themselves. This ethos was celebrated by poets like Nathan Alterman and Hannah Senesh. The Nazis murdered the latter, then 26, after she parachuted behind enemy lines to aid her fellow Jews. In Palestine, Jewish self-preservation was directed at the British, whose grotesque 1939 White Paper, Shapira shows, locked Jews out of the National Home that the League of Nations approved for them in 1922. Alyssa A. Lappen




2. In spite of the extreme popularity of the subject, there are surprisingly few scholarly works about Zionism. Much of the material that has been produced has paid more attention to political correctness than historical accuracy.
   
   I am glad to say that this book is a serious and scholarly work.
   
   The book starts by explaining the extent to which the Jews of the early nineteenth century had spent centuries as non-belligerents and pacifists. This was due in part to an aversion of war and to an even greater extent on the fact that the Jews were a defeated people who were not permitted to hold weapons. The book then examines how such a humiliated people finally acquired the willingness, ability, and nerve to defend itself and finally even attack its enemies.
   
   Shapira starts with the development of a "defensive ethos" in the Levant, from 1881 to 1921. The next segment of the book tells of the defensive ethos at work from 1921 to 1936. The remainder tells of the trials of the Jews in the Levant from 1936 to 1947 that led at first to use of force by irregulars and finally to military offenses approved of by the representatives of the population at large.
   
   As Shapira explains, at first, this use of force against the Arab pogroms of 1936 was confined to the Irgun, which represented a small minority of the Jews of the Levant, and an even smaller splinter group from the Irgun, namely the Stern Gang. The majority had a policy of "self-restraint." This continued even after the perfidious British White Paper of 1939 shifted the Jewish population to almost total insistence on the establishment of a Jewish state in the region. However, after World War 2, when British policy became even more unbalanced in favor of Arab aggression, the majority started to approve of counterattacks, starting in October, 1945. While the counterattacks by the majority ended in 1946, the stage had been set for military action. In April, 1948, that action was taken, and what became the Israeli army the following month went into action to actively relieve the siege of Jerusalem. As Shapira points out in her introduction, in 1982 Israeli forces even went into action in Lebanon as a matter of "choice." For the first time in many, many centuries, Jews had fought an offensive military action as Jews without believing that they needed to do so at once simply to survive. The transition from a humiliated people that neither was able to fight nor wished to do so to one that was willing and able to fight was finally accomplished.
   
   One interesting point that Shapira makes has to do with the Shoah or Holocaust. The slaughter of millions of European Jews was a disaster for the Jews of the Levant. It was also an embarrassment that so many Jews appeared to go to their deaths "as sheep to the slaughter." Shapira discusses the effect of having the Jews appear so weak and hapless on this occasion, and how this helped to catalyze the transition of the Jews to a people that were willing to fight. But Shapira shows that the establishment of Israel was not a direct result of the Holocaust. "It is possible to imagine," says Shapira, "that if the Holocaust had not occurred, the pressure of many more millions of living Jews would not have been inferior to the moral weight of the martyred dead."



3. Finally, a work on Zionism that avoid polemic and engages in truly important question on the changing nature of Zionism over the course of the twentieth century and the reasons and means by which the movement felt the need to resort to force.
   
   As both a Jew and Zionist, I am often disappointed by the simplistic books that come out supporting Israel and naturally disgusted by the mass of anti-Israel trash that is produced. Shapira's work, however, is something different from both. One gets that impression that Shapira has no axe to grind but truly is seeking the answer to a question.
   
   I think every Jew in Israel and in the Diaspora should read this book as we need to understand how our culture uses (and sometimes abuses) myth and history. Is is through honest works like Land and Power that Jewish culture can only become stronger and Israel can continue on as a land of hope and promise.

1 comments about Pray Tell: A Hadassah Guide to Jewish Prayer.

1. This resource book is divided into two sections. Part I is a step-by-step explanation of all the major traditional prayers (Shema, Amidah, Torah service, etc.) written by Rabbi Jules Harlow, who edited the Conservative movement's definitive siddur (prayer book). This section is very useful if you're new to the siddur or have never felt comfortable in synagogue because you don't understand what is going on. Everything is explained very clearly and I recommend this section to anyone who wants to feel more involved in synagogue prayers.

   Part II deals with contemporary and philosophical issues such as feminist re-writing of prayers and new rituals, Orthodox women's prayers, Israeli poetry as prayer, and prayer as a response to evil and suffering. Some of these issues are very controversial--since to traditionalists, the words of the prayers should not be altered--and this section of the book is very lively and provocative.

   One of the best features of PRAY TELL is the running commentaries on the margins of the page that touch on things said within the main text--just like in the Talmud. It's impossible to get bored when you're reading because even if you disagree with the main text, there is an alternate point of view in the margins (written by great rabbis like Abraham Joshua Heschel as well as contemporary feminist authorities like Alice Shalvi and Marcia Falk). The back-and-forth dialogue makes for very lively reading. There are also lots of fascinating tidbits of information--like why we recite certain psalms during the morning service, why Aleinu has been so controversial, how religious Yiddish-speaking women created their own private prayers, etc.

   One of the biggest strengths of this book is that it gives you the tools to both understand the traditional prayers and play around them (if you want to). Although I personally don't feel comfortable changing the words of the liturgy, I am glad to know that there is actually a long history of making alterations and creating new prayers.

1 comments about My Mother Golda Meir: A Son's Evocation of Life With Golda Meir.

1. I read this book as a child when I was in Seventh grade. Not only does this book show the life of Golda mier but tells us about her more personal life. Many pictures arein this book as well.