If one wants to start from scratch or build an already sophisticated knowledge base about Zionism, modern Israel, and the Arab-Israeli conflict, we believe that the list of books in English here have significant value. While the literature written on Israel, its Zionist origins, and the contemporary Arab-Israeli conflict is vast, this bibliography is a modest attempt to provide a few recommended books. Three simple criteria for a book’s inclusion in this list were used: books selected provide a unique insight or perspective while covering a particular historical period, topic, or turning point, a book’s content refrains from polemics, and/or the title has a rich bibliography for anyone to read further. The books are listed in alphabetical order, not in order of excellence.
The list was shaped by more than four decades of teaching at the college level and a dozen years of modestly helping teachers enrich their understanding of Zionism and Israel. As a modern historian, there is admitted bias in favor of titles that tend to include historical context. Elsewhere on the website one will find more specific topics covered in themes and an array of scholarly articles in college syllabi, most of which are not on-line but only accessible through libraries or other archives.
Due to space and the objective of making the list relatively short, there are of course some omissions. We tried to make Zionism and Israel the independent variable, and thus there are few titles that focus on broader topics like anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, the British in the Middle East, U.S. and UN, Arabs in surrounding countries, and the Palestinian Arabs. There are no inclusions about Zionist/Israeli historiography; these books and articles on these topics may be found in the theme section. This list intentionally does not include titles or issues that are definitively anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli.
Many of the finest books written on these three subjects were originally published during the first three-quarters of the 20th century; some have been revised, some are out of print. Many were written before archives and personal papers of the participating politicians became available to scholars and writers. As archives became available and open in the 1970s and later, and the Arab-Israeli conflict became increasingly sensational and polemical, the books written about the conflict and Israel covered narrower topics and time periods. There were exceptions, but general histories seemed to fade until the early 2000s. Only a few ore general histories were written thereafter, and some were among the best written as context and perspective of Israel’s unique perseverance was chronicled. It is not certain, but the impression remains that many new titles about Israel were in direct or indirect response to international and scholarly efforts to delegitimize Israel as a state and Jews as a people.
In covering these three main topics, many excellent memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies were written. Since self-deprecation is usually not a common feature in memoirs and autobiographies, care should be exercised in reading both over-stated achievements and under-stated failures. Note should be taken that some of the best materials on these three topics are of article or journal length, 15-30 pages article length, yet we did not include many edited volumes in this collection, simply because of space. Some of those wonderful articles in edited volumes that we have included, have within their apparatus useful bibliographies for further research. Often overlooked treasures on the three topics are found in in annual yearbooks. Some like the annual yearbook of the American Jewish Committee which goes back more than 100 years have short analyses of topics that related to Zionism, American Jews and Zionism, and Zionist culture. There the The Palestine Yearbooks and The Israel Yearbooks that contain crisp synopses often by practitioners of the day, Abba Eban, Golda Meir, David Ben-Gurion, and many lesser known but important early Zionist and Israeli leaders.
As we have noted, the books listed are all in English; there are of course a multitude of equally first-rate foreign language titles available, mostly in Hebrew. Regrettably, many of these titles have not been translated into English. For example, two of the best books ever written about the Arabs who lived in Palestine (Areve Eretz Yisrael), coincidently with the same title were written by Yosef Vashitz and Ya’acov Shimoni; to our knowledge neither was ever translated into English. Neither were the superb multi-volume sets of Sepher Palmach (History of the Palmach) or Sepher Toldot Hahaganah (History of the Haganah). There is a vast array of Hebrew titles on Jews in Eretz Yisrael published by Yad Ben-Zvi in Jerusalem and by other Hebrew and Israeli publishers. Out of print items may be obtained through used book sellers, from many major university libraries, or through inter-library loan programs. More contemporary publications are sometimes available for purchase on-line, at book stores, and at local public and university libraries. One item that is essential to read on the history of Zionism, which is on-line, is the entry on Zionism that appeared in the 1906 edition of the Jewish Encyclopedia. It is the first entry noted in our list.
A word on the annotations provided. When a book is excellent or the best in its field, we have said so. Commentary and summaries of the book are provided. We have included the number of pages. Often, the best non-fiction book reads like a gripping novel, and some of these titles are that good. We recognize that this list of less than a hundred books is in itself somewhat daunting, but in the end the reader has to choose where to begin, what topic is of interest, and at what level of engagement each prefers. The list could have been much longer, but a judgment to stop somewhere had to be made. My apologies to those individuals and particularly writers and scholars, who feel their own or favorite title was not included in this list, though their contributions may be found elsewhere on the site in Research Bibliographies. Over time, the list will inevitably be revised, updated, and will grow as new books are published. We intend to add to this list as our readers reflect and send us their own suggestions with annotations for books you would like to bring before us for consideration. Contact us at info@Israeled.org
We feel that the entire list is noteworthy; the books with a star are particularly valued.
Ken Stein, February 29, 2024
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Zionism, Adler, Cyrus (ed.) and others. Jewish Encyclopedia: The History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. New York and London: Funk and Wagnalls Company, Vol. XII, 1906. This is one of the earliest comprehensive summaries of Zionism’s origins to appear in English. The entry begins with the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, tracing that relationship from Biblical times to the early 1900s. There is reference to the various opponents of modern Zionism, Christian attitudes, and the first years of the Zionist movement after Herzl’s Jewish State publication. Comprised of forty pages, its main geographic focus are the Eastern and Western European responses to its evolution. The entry does include a brief discussion of Alkalai, Gordon, Hess, Kalisher, Syrkin, and other early Zionist thinkers. Since the entire Jewish Encyclopedia is on-line, not just the Zionism entry noted here, it is perhaps useful to identify those key thinkers enumerated in this entry, and find them elsewhere in the other volumes of the Jewish Encyclopedia. http://ismi.emory.edu/home/resources/primary-source-docs/Jewish%20Encyclopedia.pdf
*Avineri, Shlomo. The Making of Modern Zionism: The Intellectual Origins of the Jewish State. New York: Basic Books, 1981, 244 pp., with index. Written by one of Israel’s great scholars of the late 20th century, Avineri provides an introduction and epilogue, “Zionism as a Revolution,” and sixteen self-authored essays, each one focusing on a leading thinker or philosopher of modern Zionism. This is an excellent place to start and understand the varieties of Zionist thinking that evolved from the early 1800s forward. Having its own set of endnotes, it is easy to use each of Avineri’s chapters to dig deeper into the minds, preferences, and methods of Zionism’s intellectual origins. This is highly recommended for those interested in intellectual history and how each thinker contributed to the rich variety of Zionist philosophies.
*Avner, Yehuda. The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership. New Milford, CT: Toby Press, 2010, 731 pp,. with index. Avner was a speech writer for four Israeli Prime Ministers: Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, and Menachem Begin. Reading his prose transposes the reader to being in the room with a prime minister as each encountered world leaders and made Israel’s modern history. This is not a chronological history, but a delightfully intimate look at four key personalities, written with zestful engagement.
*Ben-Sasson, H. H. (ed.). A History of the Jewish People. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976, 1170 pp. Composed of seventy chapters, beginning with the origins of Judaism and ending with the aftermath of the 1973 War, this is a magisterial book to read and own. It is easily the best overview of Jewish history in one volume; its contents can be dense, but certainly encompassing. Divided into six historical sections, each is written by a world-class scholar. This book will probably not be read from beginning to end, but by chapter, topic and time period determined by the reader’s interest at the moment. Most useful for the reader that wants to probe further, each of the seventy chapters has a basic bibliography that directs future readings on a particular topic. With its extensive index, the book has value for readers, learners, and educators of all ages.
Bickerton, Ian J. Carla L. Klausner, A History of the Arab Israeli Conflict, 9th ed., New York: Routledge, 2022, 692 pp. with tables, charts, maps, documents, glossary and index. The authors take a chronological approach to history in this book intended for college students. At the same time, its analysis of the issues is accessible to anyone. Sixteen clearly written and well-organized chapters, replete with illustrations, photos, updated maps, etc., take the reader from the 19th century through 2021 and end with the authors’ updated conclusion.
Cohen, Hillel. Army of Shadows: Palestinian Collaboration with Zionism, 1917-1948. University of California Press, 2008, 314 pp. Using primarily Arabic sources, the author focuses on how Jewish nation-building was aided by Arabs living in Palestine. He is careful to make distinctions between those who helped the Zionists strictly out of financial motivation and those who were interested in sustaining relations with Jews as they slowly built the nucleus for a state. It is highly readable and contains a bibliography well worth using if looking at the social and political interactions of the communities during the Mandate Period.
Dinur, Ben Zion. Israel and the Diaspora, Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society, 1969, 206 pp. ,This is a short and engrossing history of the Jewish world in three time periods: Israel in the Diaspora, The Modern Period, and the Rebirth of Israel. Dinur, is a devoted Zionist historian. He is descriptive and analytical in demonstrating how Jews stayed a people, connected to the land of Israel. Dinur “found” Zionism in every period of Jewish history. For him Jewish historiography was wrapped in Jewish identity to Eretz Yisrael. Dinur was Minister of Education and Culture in Israel from 1951-1955.
Dowty, Alan. The Jewish State: A Century Later. University of California Press, 1998, 337 pp., with index. Comprising ten chapters and an epilogue, this readable book places the ultimate success of Zionism and Israel in Jewish history, particularly an evolution of Jewish peoplehood. Jewish survival required establishing self-governing mechanisms where reliance upon one another was necessary in order to survive as persecuted minorities wherever they lived previously. He concentrates on how Zionists and Israelis built a civil and civic society and practiced democratic means that threaded together the varieties of Zionism. His chapters on societal divisions, religion, Arabs in Israel, and Israel between the 1967 War and Israel’s century celebration in 1997 are indeed worthy. The bibliography he presents is encompassing and provides a particularly useful beginning for a deeper glimpse into Israel, its people, and the issues that shaped it.
Eisentadt, Shmuel N. The Absorption of Immigrants: A Comparative Study Based Mainly on the Jewish Community in Palestine and the State of Israel. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1954, 275 pp. This is the best book on Jewish immigration to Palestine during the Yishuv and the first years of statehood and was written by a world class Israeli sociologist. Analyses of why immigration took place, how it was managed, types of immigrants, and case studies are lucidly included.
Eliath, Eliyahu. Zionism at the UN: A Diary of the First Days. Jewish Publication Society, 1976, 331 pp. An excellent first-person memoir of the Zionist’s pivotal work at the opening of the UN, this book covers the period of 1945-1946. Eliath worked in the Jewish Agency office in Washington, DC, from 1946-1948, and became Israel’s first Ambassador to the United States.
Evatt, Herbert V. Task of Nations. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1952, 279 pp. This is a first-hand account by an Australian representative at the UN during the crucial 1947 UN debates on Palestine and the partition decision. With his pro-Zionist outlook, Evatt details the intricacies of how the Zionists lobbied for their cause.
*Flohr, Paul Mendes and Jehuda Reinharz, The Jew in the Modern World A Documentary History Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 1995, 741pp. Easily one of the most comprehensive, if not the best source book, with original writings covering Jewish philosophical, intellectual, cultural, religious and secular history from the 1700s through the foundation of Israel. The volume contains more than 300 entries and is divided into eleven time period sections. Wonderfully rich explanatory notes, biographical sketches and sources for further reading are provided along with a useful index. The book is an essential compendium for any level of Jewish history learning to 1949.
*Fromkin, David. A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East. New York: Avon Books, 1989, 635 pp., with index and superb bibliography. Writing diplomatic history from multiple viewpoints is more complex than writing about one event, individual, or concept. In this case, writing a history of the Middle East during the World War I period, when the Ottoman Empire dissolved and a new Middle East was born, is uniquely challenging. Modern Middle Eastern states were formed and relationships with Arab and Zionist leaders were forged, while Britain and France divided the area into mandates or trusteeships. Dozens of books have tried to cover parts of the period, but none has covered it as well as Fromkin does in this detailed yet easily readable history.
Garcia-Grandos, Jorge. The Birth of Israel as I Saw It, 1949. New York: Knopf, 1949, 291 pp. This is a first-hand account by the Guatemalan UN representative of the UN discussion and debate on Palestine’s partition in 1947 and 1948. Garcia-Grandos’ account is an excellent glimpse into Israel’s diplomatic foundations.
Gilbert, Martin. Israel: A History. New York: Harper Perennial, 2008.
Churchill’s most celebrated biographer, the late historian Martin Gilbert, authored more than two dozen books on the history of Israel, the Jewish people, and the Holocaust. Among the most celebrated of these is his monumental, nearly 850-page survey Israel: A History. Gilbert’s book is a triumph of historiography in several respects, but two in particular might be singled out for mention. First, part of the historian’s craft involves what might be called “unnatural selection”–i.e., selecting what to include and what to omit in presenting a narrative; for a survey, this challenge is all the harder, but it is one that Gilbert meets with characteristic flair and intelligence. The result is a survey that is summary but not superficial and comprehensive but not tedious. Reading the book, one can scarcely think of any event or personality of note that goes unexplored. At the same time, the book is as exhaustive as a survey can be without being exhausting to read. This brings us to the second major virtue of Israel: A History: its readability. Gilbert weaves together a narrative that alternately zooms in on individual Zionists/Israelis and out on the Jewish people as a whole, giving the book, at times, the air of a personal biography. In narrating the history of Zionism, he writes as if following Ralph Bunche’s sage advice: “If you want to get an idea across, wrap it up in a person.” Many of these people, however, far from being “the great men of history” (e.g., leaders and statesmen), are ordinary individuals, and by drawing on their personal letters to sketch their biographical portraits or quote their words, he gives voice to history’s voiceless.
Goldscheider. Calvin. Cultures in Conflict: The Arab Israeli Conflict, Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002, 228 pp. with an appendix of official documents, annotated bibliography and index. Part of a series about conflicts and wars, this volume’s author focuses solely on issues relating to immigration and ethnic conflict. There is much demographic data on both Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews found in the first part of this three-part book, “Historical and Sociological Contexts.” The “Documents” section complements this with narratives reflecting individual voices of Arab Palestinians and Israeli Jews both inside and out of Israel. The third part, “Reflecting,” offers discussion questions that can be used in the classroom. Additionally, the book contains a timeline.
Goldscheider, Calvin and Alan S. Zuckerman. The Transformation of the Jew. University of Chicago Press, 1984, 279 pp., with index including a 23-page bibliography of general Jewish political sociology across the world. The core thesis in this wonderfully written book is how 80% or more Jews lived in non-democratic settings in the 1880s, and a century later 70% of them were living in democratic settings. Industrialization, modernization, demographic growth, urbanization and options to move to economically better and more physically secure settings prompted this massive change in Jewish identity. This is a little known book that should be read in order to understand how Jews went from relative powerlessness to power, including the creation of a nation-state.
Gordis, Daniel. Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn, New York: HarperCollins, 2016, 546 pp with appendices containing glossaries, documents and other information, as well as notes and an index. This very readable and concise account of the events and people that shaped — and shape — Israel is broken into 18 chapters with pages of full color photos and graphics inserted in two places. In telling Israeli’s history, though, Gordis does not focus only on Zionist dreamers or Israeli statesmen, but deftly weaves in its philosophers, poets and artists. Especially worth noting, is that this book is not just a historic retelling of what happened but offers rich insights into why.
*Halpern, Ben. The Idea of the Jewish State. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1969, 483 pp. Authored by a world class historian of Jewish history, this is one of the best books written covering the history and context of modern Zionism, evolution of Israel, and Israel in world politics. The book is worth owning only for access to one of the richest bibliographies on Zionism and Israel during that time.
*Haber, Eitan, Zeev Schiff, and Ehud Yaari, Year of the Dove, Bantam Books, 1979, 312pp. Three experienced Israeli journalists at the time wrote the best accurate and complete history of the Egyptian-Israeli negotiations of the 1977-1979 period. The authors used the notes of various Israelis who attended the negotiations in the period. No American or Egyptian memoir is as rich in detail and as accurate as is this easily read paperback.
Harkabi, Yehoshafat. Israel’s Fateful Hour. New York: Harper Row, 1988, 256 pp, with index and short bibliography. Written by one of Israel’s most esteemed analysts of Israel and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Harkabi a former adviser to Menachem Begin and university professor makes the strong case for Israel’s negotiations with the Palestinians. He argues against Herut and extreme viewpoints that refused to embrace negotiations with the Palestinians. Harkabi served as head of Israeli military intelligence in the 1950s and then moved on to be a professor in international relations and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University
*Hazan, Reuven and Alan Dowty, Menachem Hofnung, and Gideon Rahar,(ed.) Oxford Handbook of Israeli Politics and Society, Oxford University Press, June 2018, 31 chapters. This is the most comprehensive reference for the history, politics, and society of modern Israel. The book presents an overview of Israel’s democracy, through chapters reviewing contemporary society, political institutions, international relations, and contemporary political issues. The authors are among the best scholars in the field of modern Israel studies. Each chapter gives readers a chance to judge for themselves conclusions drawn, all based on credible and useful source information, documents and data.
*Hertzberg, Arthur. The Zionist Idea. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1997, 648 pp. This is one of the five most essential books to own and read about modern Zionism. It is compilation of readings of the most important Zionist writers and thinkers, and it is accompanied by a sterling synopsis of each writer. Best of all, in one hundred pages, Hertzberg provides a valuable and penetrating review of Zionism, certainly among the best ever written! There is no bibliography, only notes.
Horowitz, Dan and Moshe Lissak. Origins of the Israeli Polity: Palestine Under the Mandate. Chicago University Press, 1978, 292 pp., with index bibliography and glossary. This is a classic and masterpiece in its analysis of how immigrating Zionists created a political center from diverse political and economic origins. Though Arabs and Jews lived side by side, the Zionists welded together their diversities to create a political center capable of mobilizing for the needs of a state-in-the-making. The authors argue that the Zionist leadership willingly accepted elite formation not at the political center, and those at the periphery found common interest with the central elites. Whether commitment to an ideal or physical fear, and at times certainly both, the Israeli polity emerged because of its core commitment to see a Jewish state created in their time. If one wants to have an explanation about how the Zionists succeeded, this is an important book to read.
*Horowitz, David. State in the Making. New York: Knopf, 1953, 349 pp. This is an excellent and unique look at the last three years of the Yishuv, while the Zionists lobbied for the partition of Palestine into two potential states, and to that end held detailed discussions with the Americans, British, and several Arab leaders. The story unfolds through the eyes of a high-ranking but youthful Jewish Agency diplomat. Exact representations of diplomatic meetings, discussions, debates, trials and tribulations of the period are provided with descriptive clarity of people on a mission. If you want to understand the early years of lobbying for the cause of Zionism and Israel, this is an excellent place to start.
Hurewitz, J.C. Struggle for Palestine. New York: W.W. Norton Company, Greenwood Press, 1950; reprinted by Greenwood Press, 1968, 403 pp. This is the classic history of the Palestine Mandate, particularly its last twenty years. Written by a professor who taught for three decades at Columbia University, Hurewitz’s book sets a tone for detail and readability that remains unmatched by only a few noted here. These include Ben Halpern’s The Idea of the Jewish State, Michael Oren’s Six Days of War, and Anita Shapira’s Land and Power. Hurewitz focuses on the Zionist-Arab struggle over Palestine, including the roles played by all the important external influences on Palestine’s unfolding history. Hurewitz is candid, thorough and remarkably free of political bias. Along with a wonderfully written prose, the book contains a phenomenally rich set of endnotes with references for each chapter. His 25-page bibliography is unique because none of his sources are from after 1949, which means his monumental work was written without access to government cables and most first-hand accounts that were yet to be composed. And after more than half-a-century since its publication, The Struggle for Palestine remains a bedrock of the history of Zionism, Israel, and the emerging Arab-Israeli conflict.
Insight Team of The London Sunday Times. The Yom Kippur War. Doubleday, 1974, 514 pp. Written without the use of primary sources or documents from the period, this is a highly readable account of events that led to the War and culminated in the beginnings of Henry Kissinger’s post-War diplomacy.
Katz, Yossi. The Battle for the Land: The History of the Jewish National Fund Before the Establishment of the State. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 2005, 412 pp. Easily the best single book on the work of the Jewish National Fund and its central contribution to the development of a geographic nucleus for a Jewish state. It is detailed and packed with analyses written by a scholar who devoted a lifetime to writing about Jewish nation-building and the JNF in particular.
Khalaf, Issa. Politics in Palestine: Arab Factionalism and Social Disintegration, 1939-1948. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1991, 318 pp. The author provides a first-rate background to Palestinian Arab society during the 1940s and the Mandate, and then delves into the issues and personalities that dominated Arab elite factionalism. It is an honest and vivid account of how Palestinian Arab society fragmented and broke down, making it a bit easier for Zionists to succeed in establishing Israel. The book may be out of print, but it is definitely worth the effort in securing and reading it; its bibliography is an excellent beginning for understanding the Arabs in Palestine during the Mandate.
Laqueur, Walter. A History of Zionism. New York: MJF Books, 1972, 604 pp. Written by one of the 20th century’s most distinguished historians, the book details the evolution of Zionism from the midst of the French Revolution to the present. Anyone who took a college Jewish history course in the late 1970s was asked to read Laqueur. It is thorough without being pedantic and is very readable.
Mahler, Gregory. Politics and Government in Israel: Maturation of a Modern State. Rowman and Littlefield, 2011, 387 pp., with notes. This is a first-rate basic textbook on the Israeli political system. The author sets the definition and functioning of Israel’s political system into an historical context of Zionism’s roots, the Mandate Period, religion, and Israel’s diverse sociological make-up. The Parliament (Knesset), the Prime Minister, political parties and interest groups, the electoral process and the function of government are each reviewed. The last third of the book touches on Israeli foreign policy, how it is made, the Palestinians, the West Bank, and the peace process. Other scholarly authors, such as Asher Arian and Reuven Hazan, have written fine books and articles on the Israeli political system; their works should be consulted for an understanding of Israel’s political system and Israeli voting behavior.
Marlowe, John. The Seat of Pilate: An Account of the Palestine Mandate. London: Cresset, 1959, 259 pp. This book is a British historian’s account of British presence in Palestine from the end of WWI to Israel’s establishment. Along with Christopher Sykes’ Crossroads to Israel, Marlowe’s history was written before archives and political controversies surrounded Zionism’s origins.
Metzer, Jacob. The Divided Economy of Mandatory Palestine. Cambridge University Press, 1998, 275 pp. This book is unrivaled in providing an understanding of how the early Jewish immigrants established a nascent economy based on small industries, light manufacturing, and service industries. Marrying immigrants to a new land was a key to Zionist success. Metzer provides background on Palestine’s economy before the Zionists, shows how Zionist capital fueled economic enterprises, and reviews the impact of new immigrants on the evolving Yishuv. The charts, graphs, and bibliography he provides make this book a formidable beginning for learning more about the Zionist economic infrastructure, and its strengths and weaknesses before the state was declared.
McDonald, James G. My Mission to Israel, 1948-1951. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1951, 297 pp. This is a first-hand account of the critical first three years of Israeli statehood, written by the first U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
*Oren, Michael B. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Random House, 2003, 446 pp., with index. The book is easily the most comprehensive and readable account of the June 1967 War. Historian and later Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Oren’s prose is engaging and his story-telling is gripping. If you need to give a book as a gift, and want the reader to understand issues in the conflict and the cross-roads that Israel faced in May-June 1967, this is your purchase. Oren’s bibliography is extensive, covering all views associated with the War’s enfolding and aftermath.
Penslar, Derek. Israel: An Emotional State. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2023.
Derek Penslar, a prolific historian of Israel, tackles a most unusual subject for one who practices his trade: the emotions of figures in history and the emotions of people who talk about history. In order to pull off the task he has set himself, Penslar must “reverse engineer” the emotions of historical figures and of the Israeli/Zionist masses, working backward from the emotions’ outward expression as words to their inward inception as feelings. Using this novel approach, he first looks at the emotional states of Zionists and Israelis at various milestones throughout their history. He considers, among other emotional states, the sentimentality and nostalgia of the early Zionist pioneers, the anguish of world Jewry after the Holocaust, the ambivalence in Israel toward Holocaust survivors, and the pride of American Jewry after the Six-Day War. In recounting the anxiety among ordinary Israelis in 1948 about the specter of Jewish civil war, he draws on hitherto neglected public opinion surveys conducted that year by the Haganah. Penslar also looks at the emotions of those involved in contemporary discourse about Israel, whether Jewish or gentile. To this end, he devotes a chapter to “the interdependence of those who hate and the objects of hatred in two aspects of Zionism: hatred of Zionism and hatred in the name of Zionism.”
Quandt, William B. Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Since 1967. Brookings Institution, 2005, Third Edition, 533 pp., with an extensive bibliography. Tracing American engagement in Arab-Israeli negotiations from 1967 through the Bush Administration, Quandt gives us the view of the mediator/negotiator. Having worked in the National Security Council at the Middle East Desk in the 1973-1979 period, Quandt’s insights give the book a predominantly Washington view of how events unfolded. It is a book frequently used in introductory college courses that focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Rabinovitz, Abraham. The Battle for Jerusalem. New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1972, 470 pp. This book is based on some three hundred interviews of Israeli officials, citizens, and solders on the battle of June 5-7, 1967.
*Radosh, Allis and Ronald Radosh. A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel. New York: Harper Collins, 2009, 428 pp. This is easily the best and most comprehensive book on Truman’s recognition of Israel. Successfully, the authors insert the reader as witness to the personalities, U.S. diplomacy and policy options available in the 1945-1949 period. The bibliography is the first place one should go to understand all the additional nuances addressed in this highly readable account.
*Rivlin, Paul. The Israeli Economy from the Foundation of the State through the 21st Century. Cambridge University Press, 2011, 288 pp., with index and references. Written by an economic historian, this book is unique in its depiction of how Jews established an economy in Palestine, linking an educated labor force with ingenuity and capital. He traces the philosophical distance travelled by the predominant socialist ethos initially held dear by Zionist founders to the capitalist technological force that has become Israel’s export economy of the 21st century.
Sachar, Howard. A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to our Time. Knopf, 2007, Third Edition, 1270 pp. One of the most detailed and authoritative histories of Zionism and Israel ever written, rich with detail and general conclusions, this book is among the three or four classic Zionist histories covering the early 1800s to the present. It is detailed, authoritative and written without polemic. This is an encompassing history with enormously rich detail, which includes forty-one chapters, thirty-eight maps and an index of detailed proportions. This book is the history of Zionism and Israel before there was Wikipedia.
Safran, Nadav. Israel: The Embattled Ally. Harvard University Press, 1981, 655 pp. This book covers the U.S.-Israeli relationship in a readable and exhaustive manner from Israel’s founding to 1976. It is remarkable for its detail, insights, summary and bibliography.
Safran, Nadav. From War to War: The Arab-Israeli Confrontation, 1948-1967. New York: Pegasus, 1969, 463 pp. One of the best histories of the conflict ever written, covering its origins until after the 1967 War. Written by a noted historian, the book details the conflict’s origins, the Cold War, Egypt, Nasser, inter-Arab relations, a summary of the politics of each state prior to the 1967 War, and 150 pages on the War itself.
Scharef, Zeev. Three Days. New York: Doubleday, 1963, 298 pp. This book covers the final three days prior to Israel’s Declaration of Statehood on May 14, 1948, written by Israel’s first Cabinet Secretary.
*Shapira, Anita. Israel: A History. Waltham, MA: Brandeis, 2012, 502 pp. This is one of the most comprehensive scholarly books on Zionism and Israel ever written. The book is divided into five parts, all chronological from 1881 to 2000. Each of the twenty chapters has a bibliography of books and articles enumerating the best scholarship available in multiple languages. Shapira’s prose is substantively erudite and analytical. This is not the first book you should read about the history of Zionism and Israel, but it is one that if you have not read, you will have denied yourself an historical feast.
*Shapira, Anita. Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881-1948. Oxford University Press, 1992, 446 pp., with an index and useful glossary. This is a magisterial work. Thorough and extremely well-written, the author is one of the finest Zionist historians to live, write and teach in the last quarter of the 20th century. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in knowing how a scant number of Jews with diverse ideologies and geographic origins organized themselves into a political community formidable enough to create a state.
Stein, Kenneth W. The Land Question in Palestine, 1917-1939. University of North Carolina Press, 1984, 314 pp., with index. With extensive use of land registry and land department files of the Palestine Administration, Arabic sources and those of the Jewish Agency and Jewish National Fund, this book describes Palestine’s land regime in late Ottoman times. It is a detailed account of how the British umpired the Zionist drive to acquire land for a state and Arab participation and reactions to that struggle. The bibliography is useful for anyone interested in the history of the early Yishuv to the 1940s.
*Stein, Kenneth W. Heroic Diplomacy: Sadat, Kissinger, Carter and the Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace. Routledge, 1999, 324 pp., with index and suggested readings. Using interviews with 84 participants in Arab-Israeli diplomacy, memoirs and recently opened archival materials, dispatches and memoranda of conversations, this book is a rich and detailed diplomatic account of the 1970s. It contains a lengthy introduction from 1948, featuring each of the personalities who participated in the diplomacy to come, the intense period of American mediation in that critical decade, and an epilogue to the post-1993 Oslo period.
Stein, Kenneth W. History Politics and Diplomacy of the Arab-Israeli Conflict A Source Document Reader for College Courses, June 2015. This compilation includes 434 items covering the period from 1893 to present. These include accords, agreements, declarations, memoranda of understandings, original archival materials, proposed initiatives and plans, press conferences, primary source documents, political statements, speeches, secret understandings, summit conference protocols, treaties, UN Resolutions, and more. Many of the items are translated from Arabic, German, and Hebrew and appear here in print for the first time. There are thirteen maps covering the Ottoman period to the present, and a population chart of Eretz Yisrael/Palestine/Israel covering 1517-2016. The e-book is divided into six sections, each with a short introduction of the history of that period. It is updated annually. http://israeled.org/history-politics-diplomacy-arab-israeli-conflict/
Sykes, Christopher. Crossroads to Israel, 1917-1948. Indiana University Press, 1965, 404 pp. Written by the son of Sir Mark Sykes, a British colonial officer during the WWI period, this recital of Zionism and the origins of modern Israel is written from the viewpoint of a sympathetic Gentile Zionist. The book is very readable and recommended for teenagers as well as adults. If you need to pick just one book to read on the period from 1917-1949, this is the one.
Sternhell, Zev. The Founding Myths of Israel: Nationalism, Socialism, and the Making of the Jewish State, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998, 419 pp. with notes, glossary, bibliography and index.T translated from the Hebrew original, Sternhall’s book is a close study of Mapai, the labor party and its founders’ claim of adhering to socialist ideals. In its six chapters preceded by a substantive introduction, The Founding Myths of Israel posits that the founders knew that universalist ideologies like socialism did not fit with the nationalism needed to build a state, and that once the War of Independence was over, Mapai was ill-equipped to move beyond the particularistic nature of nationalism and create the social change socialism would have called for, and yet its ideology of community sustained the state well into the 1970s when a capitalist ethos gripped the Israeli economy.
Susser, Asher Susser and Duygu Atlas. The Emergence of the Modern Middle East, Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University Press, 2017, 310 pages with index. This is not a book about Zionism, but provides an excellent background to the modern Middle East where modern Israel evolves. The book provide useful comparative context. This ten-chapter book is based on lectures developed for a two-part course by the same name offered online through Coursera. Though designed as a companion text, the book will also serve non-student readers seeking context and history. The first four chapters (used for Part One of the course) looks at the creation of modern states, against a backdrop of the rise of nationalism but rooted in a world where identity comes from ethnicity, sect and tribe. Of the last six chapters (used in Part Two of the course), three are devoted to the Arab-Israeli conflict. With ample photos and maps sprinkled liberally throughout the book, it is highly recommended for anyone who wants to understand the broader regional context of the neighborhood that Israel is found in.
Troy, Gil. The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland — Then, Now, Tomorrow, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2018, 538 pp. with sources and source acknowledgements at the end. In 1959, Arthur Hertzberg published The Zionist Idea, an anthology which because not only a classic, but as Nathan Sharansky describes in his foreword, “a crash course on the history of Zionism.” Decades later, the JPS commissioned Troy to update it. This expansive collection is divided into three parts, “Pioneers: Founding the Jewish State,” “Builders: Actualizing and Modernizing the Zionist Blueprints,” and “Torchbearers: Reassessing, Redirecting, Reinvigorating.” Each of these is then divided into six groups to represent different ideas of Zionism: Political, Revisionist, Labor, Religious, Cultural and Diaspora. Within each, Troy has taken a few of the essays which were in the original volume and added a plethora of voices, enabling the reader to be taken through a rich conversation of ideas. The overwhelming majority of the essay in the Torchbearers section come from the last few decades, shining a light on the newer voices and understandings.
Troy, Gil. Why I am a Zionist: Israel Jewish Identity and the Challenges of Today, Montreal: Bronfman Jewish Education Centre, 2002, 196 pp. with timeline, glossary, suggested readings and websites, maps and index. In this book, Troy tackles the challenges Zionists face today, particularly in North America. This lens is used especially in the first and last of the four parts the book is divided into. Each sections has a different purpose and each is comprised of a number of chapters. Part One “diagnoses the current ills of North American Zionism,” offering an affirmative vision of Zionism to use in its place. The second part provides historical background from the time of Abraham to current day. The third part tackles the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And the fourth section places the book’s positive vision of Zionism against a North American setting. Lastly, an appendix offers specific tips to help readers talk about Israel in spaces that may be unfriendly. This book is especially useful for college students and adults in North America. By defining Zionism in terms of Jewish identity, the author both teaches context better and equips readers with the tools they need to defend Zionism.
Vital, David. A People Apart: A Political History of the Jews in Europe, 1789-1939. Oxford University Press, 1999, 944 pp. This is an extraordinarily detailed and thorough history. Coherently written for the sophisticated learner, it presents and analyzes the multiple options available to Jews during their major transformation as a people. Vital traces Jewish communal structures from the medieval to the present, the Haskalah failed emancipation, immigration, emergence of Zionism, and burgeoning anti-Semitism, leaving the reader at the outset of the Holocaust. If for no other reason, anyone interested in modern Jewish history, including Zionism, whether just getting started or an expert, should use the nineteen-page bibliography Vital provides.
Vital, David. Origins of Zionism. Oxford University Press, 1975, 395 pp. This is easily one of the best written histories of Zionism. With sharp insights and vivid conclusions, the book traces the roots of the movement from its source in Jewish tradition, with the majority of the book covering the half-century period prior to and concluding with the first Zionist Congress in 1897. Vital’s select and annotated bibliography is among the best available, dividing sections into general overviews, the Eastern and Western European backgrounds for Zionism, and the Zionist movement, covering books about most of the important Zionist leaders. The book is ideal for anyone seeking a comprehensive general first book on Zionism and plenty of suggestions on where to search further.
Zweig, Ronald W. (ed.). David Ben-Gurion: Politics and Leadership in Israel. London: Cass, 1991. Comprised of sixteen essays by different authors, the topics cover virtually every aspect of Ben-Gurion’s life. Each contributor has published other fine books and articles that pertain to Zionism and Israel.