Re-cap of NBC nightly news on Israel for the last 50 years:
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 info
The best of the best in Israel's history books:
Anybody who wants to know about the history of the State of Israel,you should read this book.
A Comprehensive Work:
It is very difficult to accurately and comprehensively analyse this work. The fact is that Sachar go's out of his way to be even-handed, which leads to a dilemma in itself. The truth is that one cannot be objective in a conflict where it is clear to any fair-minded and honest observer who the agressors are and always have been: The Jews peacefully returned to their ancient land, and for nearly a century the Arabs have been trying to drive them into the sea. There are times when I am... more info
An excellent reference:
This book does a fine job of supplying a detailed history of Israel. It is over 1000 pages, not even counting the index or the huge bibliography. Sachar's idea is to tell us what happened and why. That does not mean taking sides. It does not mean saying if the people involved were reasonable or moral in choosing the sides they did. I can understand this approach. We all wish that we could always view relatively current events from the perspective of those who could see which side was being greedy,... more info
