Israel A history

Prominent Israeli historian Shapira's history does not center on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Instead, she begins with the origins of Zionism and follows well-known events to statehood in 1948. Approximately one-third of the book is set before Israel becomes a recognized country. The remaining chapters traverse the history to the present by focusing on mostly domestic topics. Many primary sources (unusual for a general text) allow the author to include details absent from more standard Israeli histories. The result is the best book in English on Israel's internal workings. It is impossible to write Israeli history without discussing foreign affairs; like most Israeli historians, Shapira (emer., Tel Aviv Univ.) ends up dividing her study in part by wars. It is also difficult to write a history of Israel without analyzing Palestinians, and Shapira includes enough background for novice readers to follow the narrative. However, readers looking for an analysis of how Palestinians have affected Israel and vice versa should go elsewhere for a fuller discussion. Also included is information about the PLO, Hamas, and Arabs in general, but it is not always as integrated into Israel as it might be. Helpful maps; up-to-date chapter bibliographies, with sources in Hebrew and English but none in Arabic. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. G. R. Sharfman Manchester College

The newest from Shapira (after Berl: The Biography of a Socialist Zionist), professor emerita at Tel Aviv University, is a wide-ranging history of Israel from the 19th-century origins of the Zionist movement to the beginning of the second intifada in 2000. The author is at her best focusing on economic, social, and cultural history-she makes deft use of Hebrew literature to illuminate her points, and she succinctly captures the zeitgeist of the times, as when she writes of an Israel that, after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, "returned to its psychological condition before the Six-Day War: a small country in constant existential danger." However, her analysis is weak on military history, devoting a paltry handful of pages to the Suez crisis, the Six-Day War, and the Yom Kippur War. Shapira also has a tendency to gloss over important details, as when she attributes Israel's victory in its war of independence in part to "the collapse of Palestinian society," without explaining what she means by this. But the most glaring omission is her failure to discuss in any detail the history of Israel's Arabs, who now constitute around 20% of the country's population. Despite these shortcomings, this is an indispensable guide to "one of the most astonishing attempts ever made at building a nation." Maps. (Dec. 11) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.