Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1499218 in Books
• Published on: 1981-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 637 pages

Synopsis
Vividly depicts the personalities and the dramatic events of 1948 that led to the birth of modern Israel.

Customer Reviews

Accurate, engaging, and well-researched
One can nitpick -- vague timelines, some wrong presumptions -- but one cannot deny that this is a book which is long on fact and even longer on good storytelling. The authors have the usual "orientalist" anti-Arabism in the style of the book -- Arabs "swarm" and do "frenzied" things and are compared to locusts traveling at one point. The authors maintain a Labor Zionist emphasis, e.g. the Irgun and Lehi Zionists are called terrorists (please let the reader decide!) and it is clear that the LAbor Zionists are getting "home team" coverage, but the authors do not suppress certain facts, e.g. they do dispute as a result of their investigation the old (and today discarded) contention that Arabs fled as a result of an evacuation policy by Arab leaders and state more accurately that Arabs fled form fear of war, terroristic violence and forced expulsion. It also looks as if they talked to everyone, Jewish, Arab, and British who was there. A classic of popular history, by no means the last word, but certainly one of the best.

The best book I have ever read
I came across this book when I was 15 , my father had a first edition in Spanish , and I have read many times since.
It is based on first hand interviews of the main characters involved in the 1947-1948 War of Israel independence and is very well balanced.
Because the Jews won the war the book is not very popular with Muslims.

The story startsin the United Nations with the key vote for the partition of Palestine in 2 states and follows the lifes , and deaths , of a number of key British , American , Palestine , Arabs and Jews thoughthe war.

The book describes incredible well the battles and desperate actions fought to the last bullet of the last man to hold the ground of which became the state of Israel.

The book is very well illustrated and includes multiple maps.

Well Researched Piece of History
I very much enjoyed this book. It was well-written and well-researched. I also thought the authors were fair to all parties concerned, especially the Jews and the Arabs. My husband made the comment that he had thought the Jews had won through organization but, after reading the book, he thought otherwise. I was surprised by the involvement of the British. Excellent book.