Views in Review: Politics and Culture in the State of the Jews Book

A leading commentator considers the meaning of Israel after fifty years. When Zionists first advocated a national home for the Jewish people, they also propounded a revolution in the values that Jews should live by, a whole new way of thinking about Jewish life and Jewish history. Has this revolution in fact occurred? And what have the consequences been for Jews and their neighbors? Especially given the extraordinary circumstances that link the United States and Israel, Americans may find the answers to such questions vexing--but the remarkable work of Avishai Margalit goes far to clarify the issues and enlighten the debate. Over the past two decades, Margalit has written major essays for American readers about the political leaders, cultural crises, and historical background of the contemporary Israeli scene. In Views and Reviews these essays are brought together, with new commentary and observations, and their publication in one volume clearly shows that the whole is much more than the sum of its parts. From Ben-Gurion to Netanyahu, from "Israeli kitsch" to the meaning of the Holocaust for "the seventh million," Margalit enlightens the whole terrain of Israeli life and history. Views and Reviews brings a tragically conflicted country into sharp and memorable focus.Read More