Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn

Winner of the Jewish Book of the Year Award

The first comprehensive yet accessible political history of the state of Israel from its inception to present day, from Daniel Gordis, "one of the most respected Israel analysts" (The Forward) living and writing in Jerusalem.

In the landscape of Middle East history, Israel is a tiny state, and yet it has captured the world’s attention, aroused its imagination, and lately, been the object of its opprobrium. Why does such a small country speak to so many global concerns? More pressingly: Why does Israel make the decisions it does? And what lies in its future?

We cannot answer these questions until we understand Israel’s people and the questions and conflicts, the hopes and desires, that have animated their conversations and actions. Though Israel’s history is rife with conflict, these conflicts do not fully communicate the spirit of Israel and its people: they give short shrift to the dream that gave birth to the state, and to the vision for the Jewish people that was at its core. Guiding us through the milestones of modern Israel, Gordis relays the drama of the Jewish people’s story and the creation of the state. Clear-eyed and erudite, he illustrates how Israel became a cultural, economic and military powerhouse―but also explains where Israel made grave mistakes and traces the long history of Israel’s deepening isolation.

With Israel, public intellectual Daniel Gordis offers us a brief but thorough account of the cultural, economic, and political history of this complex nation, from its beginnings to the present. Accessible, levelheaded, and rigorous, Israel sheds light on the Israel’s past so we can understand its future. The result is a vivid portrait of a people, and a nation, reborn.

This thorough and riveting account illuminates the pivotal events and complex questions at the heart of the nation’s story:

• Zionism and the Birth of a Nation: Explore the dream that gave birth to the state and the drama of the Jewish people’s story, guided by one of the most respected Israel analysts writing from Jerusalem.
• The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Trace the long history of Israel’s deepening isolation and understand why the nation makes the decisions it does through a clear-eyed look at its gravest mistakes and greatest military triumphs.
• A Nation Reborn: Go beyond the headlines to see how a tiny state became a cultural, economic, and military powerhouse while navigating the hopes, desires, and conflicts that animate its people.
• Comprehensive Israeli History: Follow the milestones of the state from its inception to the present day in a rigorous, accessible, and levelheaded account of this complex nation's past and future.

Daniel Gordis is the Koret Distinguished Fellow at Shalem College—Israel’s first liberal arts college—which he helped found in 2007. The author of numerous books on Jewish thought and political currents in Israel, he has twice won the National Jewish Book Award, including the prize for Book of the Year for Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn. Raised and educated in the United States, he has been living in Jerusalem since 1998.