100 Best Israel Books of All Time (Updated for 2026)

1

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Yuval Noah Harari

5.0

100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.

How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism?

Recommended by Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman, and 34 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

Fact or fiction, the president knows that reading keeps the mind sharp. He also delved into these non-fiction reads. [source]

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Both Melinda and I read this one, and it has sparked lots of great conversations at our dinner table. Harari takes on a daunting challenge: to tell the entire history of the human race in just 400 pages. He also writes about our species today and how artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and other technologies will change us in the future. Although I found things to disagree with—especially Harari’s claim that humans were better off before we started farming—I would recommend Sapiens to anyone who’s interested in the history and future of our species. [source]

Reid Hoffman

CEO/LinkedIn

A grand theory of humanity. [source]

2

Exodus

Leon Uris

4.9

Exodus is an international publishing phenomenon--the towering novel of the twentieth century's most dramatic geopolitical event. Leon Uris magnificently portrays the birth of a new nation in the midst of enemies--the beginning of an earthshaking struggle for power. Here is the tale that swept the world with its fury: the story of an American nurse, an Israeli freedom fighter caught up in a glorio

Recommended by Ben Shapiro, Michael Goldfarb, and Stephen Walt.

Ben Shapiro

A really terrific book. … It's sort of the history of the founding of Israel. [source]

Michael Goldfarb

The book was structured in such a way that it dealt with the Holocaust and the politics of establishing Israel. [source]

Stephen Walt

Exodus is a book that had a profound impact on how many Americans thought about Israel. [source]

3

My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel

Ari Shavit

4.8

A groundbreaking, ambitious, and authoritative examination of Israel by one of the most influential columnists writing about the Middle East today

My Promised Land tells the story of Israel as it has never been told before. Facing unprecedented internal and external pressures, Israel today is at a moment of existential crisis. Through revealing stories of significant events and of ordinary individu

4

A Tale of Love and Darkness

Amos Oz

4.8

Tragic, comic, and utterly honest, A Tale of Love and Darkness is at once a family saga and a magical self-portrait of a writer who witnessed the birth of a nation and lived through its turbulent history.

It is the story of a boy growing up in the war-torn Jerusalem of the forties and fifties, in a small apartment crowded with books in twelve languages and relatives speaking nearly as many. The sto

Recommended by Michael Goldfarb.

5

Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle

Dan Senor

4.7

Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion dollar question: How is it that Israel -- a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources-- produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK?

With the savvy of foreign policy insiders, Senor a

Recommended by Amnon Rubinstein, Bogdana Butnar, Iulian Stanciu, and 1 others.

Amnon Rubinstein

This is a new book which has become very successful in America, though it is less well-known in England. It is a book which seeks to explain the economic success of Israel. Israel has withstood the recent crunch, the recent depression, more successfully than other industrial societies and this book seeks to explain that. One of the things that the authors explain is the spirit of leadership and entrepreneurship which is part and parcel of the fact that most Israelis serve in the Israeli army. The regular army of Israel educates its draftees to a position of leadership so when they enter university they are already more adult, more experienced, more likely to be go-getters and they have more knowledge of technology. So I thought this was interesting because I think it’s a fact that many people are not aware of. And there is a flipside to this, which is that those elements in Israeli society that do not go into the army, namely the Arabs and the ultra-orthodox Jews, miss something important. They are the poorer elements of Israeli society and the fact that they do not go into the army, and have many children, exacerbates their position. This explains why the social gap in Israeli society grows by leaps and bounds from year to year. The ultra-orthodox don’t go into the army because it’s part of a political concession, given to them by successive governments who need their support in the Knesset. It’s a very controversial issue back home. These two poor elements make things worse by not participating in the army which contributes so much to the economic success of Israel. [source]

Bogdana Butnar

I thought I might put my money where my mouth is. I keep whining that young people are not in touch with some essential books on advertising that have helped me shape the way I practise my trade today, but I never did anything about it. So I am starting here the ultimate books to read list. I will add to it as I get suggestions and as more good books get written. [source]

Iulian Stanciu

In every good or bad decision, there is a lesson. The real win is not having done something right, but having learned something you can apply in the future. I've let people make the wrong decisions even if I knew they were wrong, because I knew that would teach them something better than I ever could. Why the "Start-up Nation" book? Because lots of things are BS free. If someone in the company thinks I did something stupid, they're free to tell me why. Let's call things as we see them. [source]

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6

Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East

Michael B. Oren

4.7

Though it lasted for only six tense days in June, the 1967 Arab-Israeli war never really ended. Every crisis that has ripped through this region in the ensuing decades, from the Yom Kippur War of 1973 to the ongoing intifada, is a direct consequence of those six days of fighting. Michael B. Oren’s magnificent Six Days of War, an internationally acclaimed bestseller, is the first comprehensive acco

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7

Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations

Ronen Bergman

4.6

The first definitive history of the Mossad, Shin Bet, and the IDF’s targeted killing programs, from the man hailed by David Remnick as “arguably [Israel’s] best investigative reporter”

The Talmud says: “If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.” This instinct to take every measure, even the most aggressive, to defend the Jewish people is hardwired into Israel’s DNA. From the very b

Recommended by Noah Kagan and Rory Cormac.

Noah Kagan

Founder/Sumo

I’m shocked this book was released. It shares unbelievable stories about Israel secret intelligence and perseverance. [source]

Rory Cormac

In stark contrast to some of the other books which were written by insiders, this book is 100 per cent unofficial and unauthorised. It’s written by a journalist, albeit a journalist with a history PhD. It’s based on interviews and documents that he’s been given over the years. It’s the kind of story that the Israelis didn’t want telling and, in fact, tried to prevent the book from being published. [source]

8

Thinking, Fast and Slow

Kahneman

4.6

Preview Summary

Major New York Times bestseller
Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012
Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of 2011
A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title
One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year
One of The Wall Street Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011
2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient

In the internatio

Recommended by Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Ev Williams, and 45 others.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

A few months ago, Mr. Obama read “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” by Daniel Kahneman, about how people make decisions — quick, instinctive thinking versus slower, contemplative deliberation. For Mr. Obama, a deliberator in an instinctive business, this may be as instructive as any political science text. [source]

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

On Bill Gates's reading list in 2012. [source]

Marc Andreessen

Co-Founder/Andreessen Horowitz

Captivating dive into human decision making, marred by inclusion of several/many? psychology studies that fail to replicate. Will stand as a cautionary tale? [source]

9

Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn

Daniel Gordis

4.5

Winner of the Jewish Book of the Year Award

The first comprehensive yet accessible 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.

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.

10

To the End of the Land

David Grossman

4.5

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Christian Science Monitor, The Economist, The New Republic, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and The Pittsburgh Post Gazette

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK

Just before his release from service in the Israeli army, Ora’s son Ofer is sent back to the front for a major offensive. In a fit of preemptive grief and magical thinking, so that no bad news can reach h

Recommended by Barack Obama and Ayelet Gundar-Goshen.

Barack Obama

Former USA President

As a devoted reader, the president has been linked to a lengthy list of novels and poetry collections over the years — he admits he enjoys a thriller. [source]

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

For me, this is the greatest Israeli novel, at least of this decade. [source]

11

Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

Hannah Arendt

4.5

Preview Summary

Originally appearing as a series of articles in The New Yorker, Hannah Arendt’s authoritative and stunning report on the trial of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann sparked a flurry of debate upon its publication. This revised edition includes material that came to light after the trial, as well as Arendt’s postscript directly addressing the controversy that arose over her account. A major journalistic tr

Recommended by Dr. Phil Zimbardo, Daniel Pick, David Bell, and 1 others.

Dr. Phil Zimbardo

Talks about Eichmann as illustrating the banality of evil. [source]

Daniel Pick

The trial focused public attention on the individual high bureaucrat who had such personal responsibility in the Final Solution. There was, in a way, this enigma of what went on in Eichmann’s mind. [source]

David Bell

Political philosopher Arendt sees the work of the Nazis as the inevitable result of colonialism and industrialisation. [source]

12

Jerusalem: The Biography

Simon Sebag-Montefiore

4.5

Jerusalem is the universal city, the capital of two peoples, the shrine of three faiths; it is the prize of empires, the site of Judgement Day and the battlefield of today’s clash of civilizations. From King David to Barack Obama, from the birth of Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is the epic history of three thousand years of faith, slaughter, fanaticism and

Recommended by Ghanem Nuseibeh.

Ghanem Nuseibeh

Brilliant! If you want to read about Jerusalem’s history, it’s Simon’s book! https://t.co/vHyCpMu0eh [source]

13

The Dovekeepers

Alice Hoffman

4.5

Over five years in the writing, The Dovekeepers is Alice Hoffman's most ambitious and mesmerizing novel, a tour de force of imagination and research, set in ancient Israel.

In 70 C.E., nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and i

Cover unavailable

14

The Source

James A. Michener, Steve Berry

4.5

In the grand storytelling style that is his signature, James Michener sweeps us back through time to the very beginnings of the Jewish faith, thousands of years ago. Through the predecessors of four modern men and women, we experience the entire colorful history of the Jews, including the life of the early Hebrews and their persecutions, the impact of Christianity, the Crusades, and the Spanish In

Recommended by Ben Shapiro.

Ben Shapiro

Basically a bunch of short stories. But a bunch of them are really, really compelling and interesting. … It's a long read but it's an easy read. [source]

15

From Beirut to Jerusalem

Thomas L. Friedman

4.5

This extraordinary bestseller is still the most incisive, thought-provoking book ever written about the Middle East. Thomas L. Friedman, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, and now the Foreign Affairs columnist on the op-ed page of the New York Times, drew on his ten years in the Middle East to write a book that The Wall Street Journal called "a sparkling intellectual g

Cover unavailable

16

The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East

Sandy Tolan

4.5

In 1967, Bashir Al-Khayri, a Palestinian twenty-five-year-old, journeyed to Israel, with the goal of seeing the beloved old stone house, with the lemon tree behind it, that he and his family had fled nineteen years earlier. To his surprise, when he found the house he was greeted by Dalia Ashkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student, whose family fled Europe for Israel following th

17

The Case for Israel

Alan Dershowitz

4.4

The Case for Israel is an ardent defense of Israel's rights, supported by indisputable evidence.
Presents a passionate look at what Israel's accusers and detractors are saying about this war-torn country.
Dershowitz accuses those who attack Israel of international bigotry and backs up his argument with hard facts.
Widely respected as a civil libertarian, legal educator, and defense attorney extraordi

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18

Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation

Yossi Klein Halevi

4.4

Interweaving the stories of a group of 1967 paratroopers who liberated Jerusalem, the acclaimed international journalist traces the history of Israel from the Six Day War to the present

In June 1967, Israel won a swift and decisive victory in the Six Day War. Many of the soldiers responsible for that triumph would become the nation's future leaders, including the young paratroopers of reservists' B

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19

Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service

Michael Bar-Zohar

4.4

The Mossad is widely recognized today as the best intelligence service in the world. It is also the most enigmatic, shrouded in secrecy. Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service unveils the defi ning and most dangerous operations that have shaped Israel and the world at large from the agency's more than sixty-year history, among them: the capture of Adolf Eichmann, the eradicati

Cover unavailable

20

O Jerusalem (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #5)

Larry Collins

4.4

With her bestselling mystery series featuring Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell, Laurie R. King has created "lively adventure in the very best of intellectual company," according to The New York Times Book Review. Now the author of The Beekeeper's Apprentice and The Moor--the first writer since Patricia Cornwell to win both the American Edgar and British Creasey Awards for a debut novel (A Grave Ta

21

The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership

Yehuda Avner

4.4

This intimate narrative takes the reader behind the scenes into the chambers of Prime Ministers Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzchak Rabin, and Menachem Begin on whose personal staffs the author served. Employing time-honored literary devices of scene-setting, impressionistic description, and characterization, he restores to life episodes of war and peace as these amazing individuals, early leaders o

22

The Seven Good Years

Etgar Keret

4.4

A brilliant, life-affirming, and hilarious memoir from a master storyteller.

The seven years between the birth of Etgar Keret’s son and the death of his father were good years, though still full of reasons to worry. Lev is born in the midst of a terrorist attack. Etgar’s father gets cancer. The threat of constant war looms over their home and permeates daily life.

What emerges from this dark reality

23

Son of Hamas

Mosab Hassan Yousef

4.4

Since he was a small boy, Mosab Hassan Yousef has had an inside view of the deadly terrorist group Hamas. The oldest son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a founding member of Hamas and its most popular leader, young Mosab assisted his father for years in his political activities while being groomed to assume his legacy, politics, status . . . and power. But everything changed when Mosab turned away from t

Recommended by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Yes. That is the good thing about it. I always get these accusations, ‘Oh, but you are just from Somalia’, your case is not representative. There are many memoirs, but again, if you tell me to reduce it to just one, I pick his. I read a review of this book and it made me buy it instantly. What I liked about it is that it is by a man. It is the story of a man who grew up as the son of a prominent person in Hamas, immersed in the doctrine and the suicide killings. But he ends up living in a US suburb and completely adopting American values. [source]

Cover unavailable

24

Judas

Amos Oz and Nicholas de Lange

4.4

«Amos Oz narra en Judas las grandes preguntas y conflictos de la historia y de la religión en Oriente Próximo».

Judas, el regreso de Amos Oz a la novela, género que no había frecuentado desde Una historia de amor y oscuridad, plantea una audaz y novedosa interpretación de la figura de Judas Iscariote en el contexto de una angustiosa y delicada historia de amor.

En el invierno de 1959, el mundo del

Cover unavailable

25

Mornings in Jenin

Susan Abulhawa

4.3

A heart-wrenching, powerfully written novel that could do for Palestine what The Kite Runner did for Afghanistan.

Forcibly removed from the ancient village of Ein Hod by the newly formed state of Israel in 1948, the Abulhejas are moved into the Jenin refugee camp. There, exiled from his beloved olive groves, the family patriarch languishes of a broken heart, his eldest son fathers a family and fal

Recommended by Robin Yassin-Kassab.

Robin Yassin-Kassab

This is the first English-language epic novel to comprehensively express the Palestinian tragedy….It is a great interpenetration of fiction and documentary. Although the subject matter is necessarily political, it remains a great work of fiction and the characters are not ciphers for a political message. [source]

26

Holy Bible: KJV Standard Size Thumb Index Edition: Burgundy (King James Bible)

Thomas Nelson

4.3

My Creative Bible is an exciting new concept in ways to experience the word of God in Scripture. This King James Version Journaling Bible is single-column printed, with two-inch-wide ruled margins for note-taking, scribing your reflections or creative expression. Nearly 400 hand-drawn, Scripture accompanying line-art illustrations are placed throughout the Bible to enhance embracement of The Word.

Recommended by Walter Isaacson, Caterina Fake, A.J. Jacobs, and 7 others.

Walter Isaacson

Author

Everybody, of course, should be familiar with this book, which is a way of being taught through both parables and tales of people and their values. [source]

A.J. Jacobs

One thing that really has stuck with me is that this book talks about that you should be grateful all the time. [source]

Brett Wigdortz

I wanted to throw this in because I think a lot of leadership books believe the problems that leaders are dealing with are all new, and have never been dealt with before. But in an example that almost seems trite, because it is such a part of our cultural knowledge, if you read the book of Exodus from the point of view of leadership theory there were the same leadership lessons 3,000 years ago that people talk about today. For example, the leadership style of Moses in this book broadly has the combination of humility and will discussed by Jim Collins. He needed a great deal of convincing that he was the one who should be leading his people, but once he became that person he had the iron will to be the leader they needed. [source]

Cover unavailable

27

Chroniques de Jérusalem

Guy Delisle

4.3

Guy Delisle et sa famille s’installent pour une année à Jérusalem. Pas évident de se repérer dans cette ville aux multiples visages, animée par les passions et les conflits depuis près de 4000 ans. Au
détour d’une ruelle, à la sortie d’un lieu saint, à la terrasse d’un café, le dessinateur laisse éclater des questions fondamentales et nous fait découvrir un Jérusalem comme on ne l’a jamais vu.

28

Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide

Michael B. Oren

4.3

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Michael B. Oren’s memoir of his time as Israel’s ambassador to the United States—a period of transformative change for America and a time of violent upheaval throughout the Middle East—provides a frank, fascinating look inside the special relationship between America and its closest ally in the region.

Michael Oren served as the Israeli ambassador to the United States from

29

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

John J. Mearsheimer

4.3

The Israel Lobby," by John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, was one of the most controversial articles in recent memory. Originally published in the London Review of Books in March 2006, it provoked both howls of outrage and cheers of gratitude for challenging what had been a taboo issue in America: the impact of the

Recommended by Robin Yassin-Kassab and Stephen Walt.

Robin Yassin-Kassab

Mearsheimer and Walt are scholars of great repute, not conspiracy theorists or racists. In this book they argue that the remarkable American financial, military and political support for Israel is motivated primarily by the workings of a powerful right-wing Zionist lobby. This acts against American interests and even against Israel’s long-term security. Mearsheimer and Walt examine who makes up the lobby and how it works. [source]

Stephen Walt

The existence of a special relationship – one of nearly unconditional and generous American support – is due almost entirely to the activities of the Israel lobby. [source]

30

The Dark Forest

Cixin Liu, Joel Martinsen

4.3

With the scope of Dune and the rousing action of Independence Day this near-future trilogy is the first chance for English-speaking readers to experience this multple-award-winning phenemonenon from Cixin Liu Chinas most beloved science fiction author In DarkForest Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasionin just four centuries time The aliens human collaborators may have bee

Recommended by Adam Savage, Ben Brode, and The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.

Adam Savage

I felt like I was getting a Chinese version of Chinese culture. And that frame felt unique. [source]

Ben Brode

@noahmp @devonzuegel I thought book 2 and of the series that starts with “the three body problem” fulfilled this condition and was awesome [source]

The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk

It makes the point that humanity is fairly weak, and that if we’re ever faced by a really big threat, we most likely won’t survive it. [source]

31

פתאום דפיקה בדלת

Etgar Keret

4.3

"תראה, אני מנסה להתפלמס. שום תראה, רוטן המזוקן ודורך את האקדח, או סיפור או כדור בראש. אני מבין שאין ברירה.
שני אנשים יושבים בחדר, אני מתחיל, פתאום נשמעת דפיקה בדלת.
המזוקן מזדקף. לרגע נדמה לי שהסיפור תפס אותו, אבל הוא לא. הוא מקשיב למשהו אחר. מישהו באמת דופק בדלת."

פתאום דפיקה בדלת הוא קובץ הסיפורים החמישי של אתגר קרת.

32

The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East

Abraham Rabinovich

4.2

An updated edition that sheds new light on one of the most dramatic reversals of military fortune in modern history.

The easing of Israeli military censorship after four decades has enabled Abraham Rabinovich to offer fresh insights into this fiercest of Israel-Arab conflicts. A surprise Arab attack on two fronts on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, with Israel’s reserves un-mobilized, trigge

33

The Red Tent

Anita Diamant

4.2

Her name is Dinah. In the Bible, her life is only hinted at in a brief and violent detour within the more familiar chapters of the Book of Genesis that are about her father, Jacob, and his dozen sons. Told in Dinah's voice, this novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood--the world of the red tent. It begins with the story of her mothers--Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah--the f

34

1948: The First Arab-Israeli War

Benny Morris

4.2

This history of the foundational war in the Arab-Israeli conflict is groundbreaking, objective, and deeply revisionist. A riveting account of the military engagements, it also focuses on the war's political dimensions. Benny Morris probes the motives and aims of the protagonists on the basis of newly opened Israeli and Western documentation. The Arab side—where the archives are still closed—is ill

35

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

Yuval Noah Harari

4.2

Preview Summary

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future, and our quest to upgrade humans into gods.

Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to acce

Recommended by Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Naval Ravikant, and 15 others.

Bill Gates

CEO/Microsoft

Harari’s new book is as challenging and readable as Sapiens. Rather than looking back, as Sapiens does, it looks to the future. I don’t agree with everything the author has to say, but he has written a thoughtful look at what may be in store for humanity. [source]

Richard Branson

Founder/Virgin Group

I certainly wouldn’t consider myself a big reader of paleontology or anthropology – not good words for us dyslexics! – but I enjoy learning about how society has unfolded and history has developed in an exciting, easy to read way. The sequel, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, is a fascinating look into the future too. While these aren’t traditional business or leadership books, they are all about people – and learning how to work with, live with, interact with people and get the best out of them is what leadership is all about. [source]

Vinod Khosla

Co-Founder/Sun Microsystem

Not that I agree with all of it, but it is still mind-bending speculation about our future as a follow-up to a previous favorite, Sapiens. It’s directionally right. [source]

36

Spies of No Country: Israel's Secret Agents at the Birth of the Mossad

Matti Friedman

4.2

Four Arab Jews emigrate to Israel in 1948, at the birth of the new nation. Recruited almost immediately to spy for Israel, they are sent back to Lebanon and elsewhere to pose as Arabs (which they actually are) and collect intelligence. They operate out of a kiosk in Beirut. It is dangerous work and they don't know to whom they are reporting; they don't know whether their information is useful; and

37

A Pigeon and a Boy

Meir Shalev, Evan Fallenberg

4.2

From the internationally acclaimed Israeli writer Meir Shalev comes a mesmerizing novel of two love stories, separated by half a century but connected by one enchanting act of devotion. During the 1948 War of Independence--a time when pigeons are still used to deliver battlefield messages--a gifted young pigeon handler is mortally wounded. In the moments before his death, he dispatches one last pi

38

A Horse Walks into a Bar

David Grossman, Jessica Cohen

4.2

The award-winning and internationally acclaimed author of the To the End of the Land now gives us a searing short novel about the life of a stand-up comic, as revealed in the course of one evening's performance. In the dance between comic and audience, with barbs flying back and forth, a deeper story begins to take shape--one that will alter the lives of many of those in attendance.

In a little div

39

The Yellow Wind

David Grossman, Haim Watzman

4.2

The Israeli novelist David Grossman’s impassioned account of what he observed on the West Bank in early 1987—not only the misery of the Palestinian refugees and their deep-seated hatred of the Israelis but also the cost of occupation for both occupier and occupied—is an intimate and urgent moral report on one of the great tragedies of our time. The Yellow Wind is essential reading for anyone who s

Recommended by Gideon Lichfield.

Gideon Lichfield

Obviously there are a lot of books about the conflict, and I’ve read only a fraction. But I’ve picked out the ones which are not even necessarily the best of that fraction. Just the books that for one reason or another have made an impact on me because they were useful in helping me get at something deeper at the time when I read them, something about opening up my understanding to other people’s point of view. Which, when I think of it, is a very Berlinesque attitude. He believed in pluralism. He believed that is was possible to comprehend someone else’s values and consider them to be objective and valid even if you fundamentally disagreed with them. [source]

40

Mother Night

Kurt Vonnegut

4.2

Librarian note: Alternate cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Mother Night is a daring challenge to our moral sense. American Howard W. Campbell, Jr., a spy during World War II, is now on trial in Israel as a Nazi war criminal. But is he really guilty? In this brilliant book rife with true gallows humor, Vonnegut turns black and white into a chilling shade of gray with a verdict that wil

Recommended by Derek Sivers.

Derek Sivers

Derek Sivers recommended this book in the book "Tools of Titans". [source]

41

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine

Ilan Pappe

4.2

Since the Holocaust, it has been almost impossible to hide large-scale crimes against humanity. In our communicative world, few modern catastrophes are concealed from the public eye. And yet, Ilan Pappe unveils, one such crime has been erased from the global public memory: the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in 1948. But why is it denied, and by whom? The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine offers

Recommended by Robin Yassin-Kassab.

Robin Yassin-Kassab

Pappe has written a great historical work on the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1947/8 and he shows that it was organised and planned, called Plan D, or plan Dalit, and he has exploded the myths that were current until his work. [source]

42

The Kill Artist (Gabriel Allon, #1)

Daniel Silva

4.2

Gabriel Allon had a simple but brutal job: he tracked down and eliminated Israel's terrorist enemies. But when his wife and son fell victim to the danger that accompanied him everywhere, Gabriel quit and devoted himself to the work of art restoration, an occupation that had previously been a cover for his secret assignments. Now Ari Shamron, the head of Israeli intelligence, needs Gabriel's partic

43

Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-1998

Benny Morris

4.2

At a time when the Middle East has come closer to achieving peace than ever before, eminent Israeli historian Benny Morris explodes the myths cherished by both sides to present an epic history of Zionist-Arab relations over the past 120 years.

Tracing the roots of political Zionism back to the pogroms of Russia and the Dreyfus Affair, Morris describes the gradual influx of Jewish settlers into Pal

Recommended by Alon Hilu.

Alon Hilu

Benny Morris, together with Ilan Pappe and other historians, is an historian who took it upon himself to check what really happened here in early Zionism. He describes, for example, what happened in 1948. Usually with Israel we tell ourselves that in the 48 War the Palestinians ran away and didn’t want to come back. And he showed that in some cases the situation was quite different. People were expelled or were forced to go and were threatened, and so on. So I chose his book because he gave me the supporting evidence and facts that I needed to describe accurately the situation back then. [source]

44

The Bus Driver Who Wanted to be God & Other Stories

Etgar Keret

4.2

Israel's hippest bestselling young writer today, Etgar Keret is part court jester, part literary crown prince, part national conscience. The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God gathers his daring and provocative short stories for the first time in English.

Brief, intense, painfully funny, and shockingly honest, Keret's stories are snapshots that illuminate with intelligence and wit the hidden truths o

Cover unavailable

45

Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad (Updated)

Gordon Thomas

4.2

Created in 1951 to ensure the future of an embattled Israel, the Mossad has been responsible for the most audacious and thrilling feats of espionage, counterterrorism, and assassination ever ventured. Gordon Thomas's 1999 publication of Gideon's Spies, resulting from closed-door interviews with Mossad agents, informants, and spymasters as well as from classified documents and top-secret sources, r

46

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less

Sarah Glidden

4.2

A stunningly accomplished debut graphic novel, HOW TO UNDERSTAND ISRAEL IN 60 DAYS OR LESS is Sarah Glidden's charming and funny travel memoir of her trip through Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Masada and other historic locales, brought to life with lush watercolors in all of their quirky and breathtaking detail.

At the same time, ISRAEL is a sensitive, deeply thoughtful and personal exami

47

Waking Lions

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

4.2

Dr. Eitan Green is a good man. He saves lives. Then, speeding along a deserted moonlit road in his SUV, he hits someone. Seeing that the man, an African migrant, is beyond help, he flees the scene. It is a decision that changes everything. Because the dead man’s wife knows what happened. When she knocks at Eitan’s door the next day, tall and beautiful, he discovers that her price is not money. It

48

Khirbet Khizeh

Yizhar, S.

4.2

This classic 1949 novella about the violent expulsion of Palestinian villagers by the Israeli army has long been considered a high point in Hebrew literature, as it has also given rise to fierce controversy over the years. Published just months after the end of the 1948 war (in which the author fought) the book as famous for Yizhar's haunting, lyrical style as for its wrenchingly honest soldier's-

Recommended by Gideon Lichfield.

Gideon Lichfield

Khirbet Khizeh by S Yizhar and the final book on the list both come from the same people, and I’ll explain why in a bit. Khirbet Khizeh is an interesting book because it’s a very, very short novel – a long short story really – written by this guy who was an intelligence officer in the fledgling Israeli army. The book’s told from the point of view of a soldier in this army just after the Israeli war of independence, as the Israelis call it, has finished. And he and his squad have been detailed to go and ethnically cleanse a Palestinian village which has remained inside Israeli territory. He tells how they’re wandering around on this lovely day and the sun is shining and it’s idyllic. And they go into this village, round up the Palestinians and put them on trucks and send them away to the border to the West Bank, where Jordan is in control. The book’s beautiful because it makes a gradual transition from this bucolic setting to these increasingly menacing events. The narrator begins to realise that there’s an uncomfortable parallel between what’s happening here and what was being done to the Jews in Europe. He turns to one of his fellow soldiers and says this, and the answer he gets is: ‘Do you know how badly these people would be treated anywhere else? We’re doing them a favour. We’re putting them on trucks and we’re sending them to their own people. No other army in the world would treat them as well as this.’ That kind of dialectic has been a relatively constant theme of the whole debate in Israel right up to now. There’s a camp that says we’re doing bad things and there’s a camp that says that anybody in a similar position, surrounded by enemies, threatened with extinction, would behave much worse. [source]

49

The Hope (The Hope and the Glory, #1)

Herman Wouk

4.2

Herman Wouk is one of this century's great historical novelists, whose peerless talent for capturing the human drama of landmark world events has earned him worldwide acclaim. In The Hope, his long-awaited return to historical fiction, he turns to one of the most thrilling stories of our time - the saga of Israel. In the grand, epic style of The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, The Hope plung

50

Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel

Dan Ephron

4.2

One of the New York Times’s 100 Notable Books of the Year.

The assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin remains the single most consequential event in Israel’s recent history, and one that fundamentally altered the trajectory for both Israel and the Palestinians. Killing a King relates the parallel stories of Rabin and his stalker, Yigal Amir, over the two years leading up to the assas

51

Someone to Run With

David Grossman

4.2

The story of a lost dog, and the discovery of first love on the streets of Jerusalem are portrayed here with a gritty realism that is as fresh as it is compelling.

When awkward and painfully shy sixteen-year-old Assaf is asked to find the owner of a stray yellow lab, he begins a quest that will bring him into contact with street kids and criminals, and a talented young singer, Tamar, engaged on her

52

The Invention of the Jewish People

Shlomo Sand

4.2

A historical tour de force that demolishes the myths and taboos that have surrounded Jewish and Israeli history, The Invention of the Jewish People offers a new account of both that demands to be read and reckoned with. Was there really a forced exile in the first century, at the hands of the Romans? Should we regard the Jewish people, throughout two millennia, as both a distinct ethnic group and

Recommended by Amnon Rubinstein and Robin Yassin-Kassab.

Amnon Rubinstein

This is a book which has enjoyed great success. It not only denies that Israel is the state of the Jewish people but it denies the fact that there is a Jewish people. [source]

Robin Yassin-Kassab

It’s been a bestseller in Israel, and that’s very interesting because it undermines the blood and soil aspects of Zionism and also the Christian Zionism that is so rife in the United States. [source]

Cover unavailable

53

Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World

Seth M. Siegel

4.1

As every day brings urgent reports of growing water shortages around the world, there is no time to lose in the search for solutions.

The U.S. government predicts that forty of our fifty states—and 60 percent of the earth's land surface—will soon face alarming gaps between available water and the growing demand for it. Without action, food prices will rise, economic growth will slow, and political

54

Black Box

Amos Oz

4.1

Examines the lives of a contemporary Israeli couple whose marriage has ended in disaster.

55

The Haj

Leon Uris

4.1

Leon Uris retums to the land of his acclaimed best-seller Exodus for an epic story of hate and love, vengeance and forgiveness and forgiveness. The Middle East is the powerful setting for this sweeping tale of a land where revenge is sacred and hatred noble. Where an Arab ruler tries to save his people from destruction but cannot save them from themselves. When violence spreads like a plague acros

56

Between Friends

Amos Oz

4.1

'On the kibbutz it's hard to know. We're all supposed to be friends but very few really are.'

Amos Oz's compelling new fiction offers revelatory glimpses into the secrets and frustrations of the human heart, played out by a community of misfits united by political disagreement, intense dissatisfaction and lifetimes of words left unspoken.

Ariella, unhappy in love, confides in the woman whose husband

57

The Lion's Gate: On the Front Lines of the Six Day War

Steven Pressfield

4.1

The thrilling true story of one of the most unlikely and astonishing military victories in history.

June 5, 1967. Israel is surrounded by enemies who want nothing less than her utter extinction. The Soviet-equipped Egyptian Army has massed a thousand tanks on the nation’s southern border. Syrian heavy guns are shelling her from the north. To the east, Jordan and Iraq are moving mechanized brigades

58

Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David

Lawrence Wright

4.1

A gripping day-by-day account of the 1978 Camp David conference, when President Jimmy Carter persuaded Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat to sign the first peace treaty in the modern Middle East, one which endures to this day.

With his hallmark insight into the forces at play in the Middle East and his acclaimed journalistic skill, Lawrence Wright takes us thr

59

The Blue Mountain

Meir Shalev

4.1

The absorbing first novel by one of Israel's most important and acclaimed contemporary writers focuses on four idealistic early settlers of the modern state of Israel.
Set in a small rural village prior to the creation of the State of Israel, this funny and hugely imaginative book paints an extraordinary picture of a small community of Ukrainian immigrants as they pioneer a new life in a new land o

60

Palestine

Joe Sacco

4.1

Prior to Safe Area Gorazde: The War In Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995—Joe Sacco's breakthrough novel of graphic journalism—the acclaimed author was best known for Palestine, a two-volume graphic novel that won an American Book Award in 1996.

Fantagraphics Books is pleased to present the first single-volume collection of this landmark of journalism and the art form of comics.

Based on several months of res

61

The Hilltop

Assaf Gavron

4.1

Hailed as “The Great Israeli Novel” (Time Out Tel Aviv) and winner of the prestigious Bernstein Prize, The Hilltop is a monumental and daring work about life in a West Bank settlement from one of Israel’s most acclaimed young novelists.

On a rocky, beautiful hilltop stands Ma’aleh Hermesh C, a fledgling community flying under the radar. According to the government it doesn’t exist; according to the

Recommended by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen.

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

Gavron writes about the people who live in the Occupied Territories, who for many left-wing readers are the ultimate ‘other’. [source]

62

Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team

George Jonas

4.1

Vengeance is a true story that reads like a novel. It is the account of five ordinary Israelis, selected to vanish into "the cold" of espionage secrecy -- their mission to hunt down and kill the PLO terrorists responsible for the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972.

This is the account of that secret mission, as related by the leader of the group -- the first Mossad

63

Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor

Yossi Klein Halevi

4.1

New York Times bestseller

"A profound and original book, the work of a gifted thinker."--Daphne Merkin, The Wall Street Journal

Attempting to break the agonizing impasse between Israelis and Palestinians, the Israeli commentator and award-winning author of Like Dreamers directly addresses his Palestinian neighbors in this taut and provocative book, empathizing with Palestinian suffering and longing

64

Day After Night

Anita Diamant

4.1

Atlit is a holding camp for illegal immigrants in Israel in 1945. There about 270 men and women await their future and try to recover from their past. Diamant with infinite compassion and understanding tells the stories of the women gathered in this place. Shayndel is a Polish Zionist who fought the Germans with a band of partisans. Leonie is a Parisian beauty. Tedi is Dutch a strapping blond who

65

In the Land of Israel

Amos Oz

4.1

“An exemplary instance of a writer using his craft to come to grips with what is happening politically and to illuminate certain aspects of Israeli society that have generally been concealed by polemical formulas.” —The New York Times

Notebook in hand, Amos Oz traveled throughout Israel and the West Bank in the early 1980s to talk with workers, soldiers, religious zealots, aging pioneers, new immig

66

Second Person Singular

Sayed Kashua, Mitch Ginsburg

4.1

Recommended by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen.

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

The most important Israeli writer today; a Palestinian citizen of Israel. [source]

67

Jerusalem: A Cookbook

Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi

4.1

A collection of 120 recipes exploring the flavors of Jerusalem from the New York Times bestselling author of Plenty, one of the most lauded cookbooks of 2011.

In Jerusalem, Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi explore the vibrant cuisine of their home city—with its diverse Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities. Both men were born in Jerusalem in the same year—Tamimi on the Arab east side and Ottole

68

Catch the Jew!

Tuvia Tenenbom

4.1

Catch the Jew! recounts the adventures of Tuvia Tenenbom, who wanders around Israel of our time calling himself “Tobi the German.” In the course of numerous interviews Tuvia extracts information, sentiments, hidden theories and delusional visions motivating the miscellany of peoples forming the present-day Holy Land.

Does Palestinian wife number one hate the Jews more than she hates wife number two

69

All the Rivers

Dorit Rabinyan, Jessica Cohen

4.1

A controversial, award-winning story about the passionate but untenable affair between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man, from one of Israel’s most acclaimed novelists

When Liat meets Hilmi on a blustery autumn afternoon in Greenwich Village, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Charismatic and handsome, Hilmi is a talented young artist from Palestine. Liat, an aspiring translation stud

Recommended by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen.

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

The people who are afraid of this novel are the people who understand that literature can change the way people think. [source]

70

My Michael

Amos Oz, Nicholas De Lange

4.1

Set in 1950s Jerusalem, My Michael is the story of a remote and intense woman named Hannah Gonen and her marriage to a decent but unremarkable man named Michael. As the years pass and Hannah’s tempestuous fantasy life encroaches upon reality, she feels increasingly estranged from him and the marriage gradually disintegrates. Gorgeously written, profoundly moving, this extraordinary novel is at onc

71

Homesick

Eshkol Nevo

4.1

It is 1995 and Noa and Amir have decided to move in together. Noa is studying photography in Jerusalem and Amir is a psychology student in Tel Aviv, so they choose a tiny flat in a village in the hills, between the two cities. Their flat is separated from that of their landlords, Sima and Moshe Zakian, by a thin wall, but on each side we find a different home - and a different world.

Homesick is a

Recommended by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen.

Ayelet Gundar-Goshen

Can you be homesick in your own living room? Can you miss the person you love, when you’re lying next to him in bed? [source]

72

Israel: A History

Martin Gilbert

4.1

Israel is a small and relatively young country, but its turbulent history has placed it squarely at the centre of the world stage for most of this century. For two millennia the Jews, dispersed all over the world, prayed for a return to Zion. Until the nineteenth century, that dream seemed a fantasy, but then a secular Zionist movement was born and soon the initial trickle of Jewish immigrants to

73

The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds

Michael Lewis

4.1

Preview Summary

Forty years ago, Israeli psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky wrote a series of breathtakingly original papers that invented the field of behavioral economics. One of the greatest partnerships in the history of science, Kahneman and Tversky’s extraordinary friendship incited a revolution in Big Data studies, advanced evidence-based medicine, led to a new approach to government regulation

Recommended by Doug McMillon, David Heinemeier Hansson, David Rothschild, and 2 others.

Doug McMillon

CEO/Walmart

Here are some of my favorite reads from 2017. Lots of friends and colleagues send me book suggestions and it's impossible to squeeze them all in. I continue to be super curious about how digital and tech are enabling people to transform our lives but I try to read a good mix of books that apply to a variety of areas and stretch my thinking more broadly. [source]

David Heinemeier Hansson

Michael Lewis is just a great storyteller, and tell a story in this he does. It’s about two Israeli psychologists, their collaboration on the irrationality of the human mind, and the milestones they set with concepts like loss-aversion, endowment effect, and other common quirks that the assumption of rationality doesn’t account for. It’s a bit long-winded, but if you like Lewis’ style, you probably won’t mind it. The scientific recaps could have happened in a book 1/10th the length, but then you’d miss out on the character portrayals of these two fascinating scientists. [source]

Francisco Perez Mackenna

This summer, Mackenna is learning more about the birth of behavioral economics, the psychology of white collar crime, and the restoration of American cities as locations of economic growth. [source]

74

The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World

Avi Shlaim Ph.D.

4.1

As it celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, the State of Israel could count many important successes, but its conflict with the Palestinians and the Arab world at large casts a long shadow over its history. What was promulgated as an "iron-wall" strategy—dealing with the Arabs from a position of unassailable strength—was meant to yield to a further stage where Israel would be strong enough to negot

75

Exit Wounds

Rutu Modan

4.1

Set in modern-day Tel Aviv, a young man, Koby Franco, receives an urgent phone call from a female soldier. Learning that his estranged father may have been a victim of a suicide bombing in Hadera, Koby reluctantly joins the soldier in searching for clues. His death would certainly explain his empty apartment and disconnected phone line. As Koby tries to unravel the mystery of his father's death, h

76

The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East

Caroline Glick

4.1

A manifesto that exposes the flaws in the two-state policy of the United States toward Israel and the Palestinians and offers a direct and powerful call for Israeli sovereignty in the region.

The reigning consensus in elite and academic circles is that the United States must seek to resolve the Palestinians' conflict with Israel by implementing the so-called two-state solution. Establishing a Pal

77

The Bronze Bow

Elizabeth George Speare

4.1

He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. –from the Song of David (2 Samuel 22:35)
The Bronze Bow, written by Elizabeth George Speare (author of The Witch of Blackbird Pond) won the Newbery Medal in 1962. This gripping, action-packed novel tells the story of eighteen-year-old Daniel bar Jamin—a fierce, hotheaded young man bent on revenging his father’s death by forcing

78

About the Night

Anat Talshir and Evan Fallenber

4.1

On a hot summer day in 1947, on a grandstand overlooking Jerusalem, Elias and Lila fall deeply, irrevocably in love.

Tragically, they come from two different worlds. Elias is a Christian Arab living on the eastern side of the newly divided city, and Lila is a Jew living on the western side. A growing conflict between their cultures casts a heavy shadow over the region and their burgeoning relations

79

One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate

Tom Segev

4.1

Great Britain ruled Palestine from 1917 to 1948. The British presence replaced 500 years of Turkish control and led to the State of Israel, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1998. The British brought Palestine into the 20th century: when they arrived the country lay in a Levantine nirvana; by the time they left it had become the arena for one of the century's major international conflicts.

Recommended by Eugene Rogan and Michael Goldfarb.

Eugene Rogan

The irony of the title is, of course, that Palestine was made, by the British, into a twice-contested land: between Palestinian Arabs and Jewish Zionist immigrants. [source]

Michael Goldfarb

Both groups in Palestine had a major bone to pick with the colonial power – Britain. And there was a fair amount of terrorism from both camps. [source]

80

The Attack

Yasmina Khadra

4.1

Dr. Amin Jaafari, an Arab-Israeli citizen, is a surgeon at a hospital in Tel Aviv. Dedicated to his work, respected and admired by his colleagues and community, he represents integration at its most successful. He has learned to live with the violence and chaos that plague his city, and on the night of a deadly bombing in a local restaurant, he works tirelessly to help the shocked and shattered pa

81

The Defector (Gabriel Allon, #9)

Daniel Silva

4.0

Six months after the dramatic conclusion of Moscow Rules, Gabriel has returned to the tan hills of Umbria to resume his honeymoon with his new wife, Chiara, and restore a seventeenth-century altarpiece for the Vatican. But his idyllic world is once again thrown into turmoil with shocking news from London. The defector and former Russian intelligence officer Grigori Bulganov, who saved Gabriel’s li

82

The Seventh Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust

Tom Segev

4.0

The Seventh Million is the first book to show the decisive impact of the Holocaust on the identity, ideology, and politics of Israel. Drawing on diaries, interviews, and thousands of declassified documents, Segev reconsiders the major struggles and personalities of Israel's past, including Ben-Gurion, Begin, and Nahum Goldmann, and argues that the nation's legacy has, at critical moments - the Exo

Recommended by James Carroll.

James Carroll

This book tells the story of the great interruption in European history – the Holocaust. It’s no accident that the Jewish reaction after the Holocaust was to return to Jerusalem. Zionism had been ambivalent about Jerusalem, but, after the Holocaust, that was no longer the case. Tom Segev’s book explains why. The title refers to the six million who died in the Holocaust; the seventh million are the Israelis who were traumatised by what happened. [source]

83

All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror

Stephen Kinzer

4.0

An American Coup & the Roots of Middle East Terror
Half a century ago, the United States overthrew a Middle Eastern government for the first time. The victim was Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran. Although the coup seemed a success at first, today it serves as a chilling lesson about the dangers of foreign intervention.In this book, veteran New York Times correspondent Stephen Kinzer gives the first full account of this fateful operation. His account is centered around an hour-by-hour reconstruction of the events of August 1953, and concludes with an assessment of the coup's "haunting and terrible legacy."Operation Ajax, as the plot was code-named, reshaped the history of Iran, the Middle East, and the world. It restored Mohammad Reza Shah to the Peacock Throne, allowing him to impose a tyranny that ultimately sparked the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The Islamic Revolution, in turn, inspired fundamentalists throughout the Muslim world, including the Taliban and terrorists who thrived under its protection."It is not far-fetched," Kinzer asserts in this book, "to draw a line from Operation Ajax through the Shah's repressive regime and the Islamic Revolution to the fireballs that engulfed the World Trade Center in New York."Drawing on research in the United States and Iran, and using material from a long-secret CIA report, Kinzer explains the background of the coup and tells how it was carried out. It is a cloak-and-dagger story of spies, saboteurs, and secret agents. There are accounts of bribes, staged riots, suitcases full of cash, and midnight meetings between the Shah and CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt, who was smuggled in and out of the royal palace under a blanket in the back seat of a car. Roosevelt,the grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt, was a real-life James Bond in an era when CIA agents operated mainly by their wits. After his first coup attempt failed, he organized a second attempt that succeeded three days later.The colorful cast of characters includes the terrified young Shah, who fled his country at the first sign of trouble; General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, father of the Gulf War commander and the radio voice of "Gang Busters," who flew to Tehran on a secret mission that helped set the coup in motion; and the fiery Prime Minister Mossadegh, who outraged the West by nationalizing the immensely profitable Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. The British, outraged by the seizure of their oil company, persuaded President Dwight Eisenhower that Mossadegh was leading Iran toward Communism. Eisenhower and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain became the coup's main sponsors.Brimming with insights into Middle Eastern history and American foreign policy, this book is an eye-opening look at an event whose unintended consequences--Islamic revolution and violent anti-Americanism--have shaped the modern world. As the United States assumes an ever-widening role in the Middle East, it is essential reading.

Recommended by Chris Abbott and Demetri Sevastopulo.

Chris Abbott

Kinzer gives a good and quick introduction to Iranian history and its relationships with America and Britain. [source]

Demetri Sevastopulo

On a totally different topic, this book by @stephenkinzer is a great look at US & UK relations with #Iran before the revolution. Lots of interesting similarities with the situation today. https://t.co/rlv8Ip0Kjn https://t.co/gz7InQkMk4 [source]

84

The Glory (The Hope and the Glory, #2)

Herman Wouk

4.0

Like no other novelist at work today, Herman Wouk has managed to capture the sweep of history in novels rich in character and alive with drama. In "The Hope," which opens in 1948 and culminates in the miraculous triumph of 1967's Six-Day War, Wouk plunges the reader into the story of a nation struggling for its birth and then its survival. As the tale resumes in "The Glory," Wouk portrays the youn

85

Only Yesterday

S. Y. Agnon

4.0

Israeli Nobel Laureate S.Y. Agnon's famous masterpiece, his novel Only Yesterday, here appears in English translation for the first time. Published in 1945, the book tells a seemingly simple tale about a man who immigrates to Palestine with the Second Aliya--the several hundred idealists who returned between 1904 and 1914 to work the Hebrew soil as in Biblical times and revive Hebrew culture. Only

Recommended by Alon Hilu.

Alon Hilu

Shmuel Agnon is the only Israeli writer who has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is still regarded as the best writer in modern Hebrew literature. This book takes place in Jaffa between the end of the 19th century and the start of the First World War. My latest book, The House of Rajani, takes place at the same time and in the same place so I was very much inspired by his book. I read it three times in order to get the atmosphere and spirit of the place at that time. Nevertheless, when I read Agnon’s book I do have some criticisms of it. This is because I think that when he described the immigration from Eastern Europe to Palestine he disregarded the Palestinian existence. In the entire book, which is about 600 pages, he doesn’t even mention one Arab person by name. [source]

86

Doomed to Succeed: The U.S.-Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama

Dennis Ross

4.0

Winner of the National Jewish Book Award's Gerrard and Ella Berman Memorial Award in History.

A necessary and unprecedented account of America's changing relationship with Israel

When it comes to Israel, U.S. policy has always emphasized the unbreakable bond between the two countries and our ironclad commitment to Israel's security. Today our ties to Israel are close--so close that when there are di

87

My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Family's Past

Ariel Sabar

4.0

Recommended by Peter W. Galbraith.

Peter W. Galbraith

This is a book by Ariel Sabar, whose family came from Iraqi Kurdistan. The Jewish population of Iraq with very large in 1940; a quarter of Baghdad’s population was Jewish. But the partition of Palestine sparked increased repression of Jews in the region and led to a mass exodus of Jews from Iraq, including the author’s father. In the Arab parts of Iraq, Jews were fired from their jobs, had their property confiscated and were brutalized. But, in the Kurdish regions, there were no pogroms. On the contrary, the Kurds grieved the exodus of their Jewish neighbors. Within the region different religious communities–not just Muslims, but also Yazidis, Christians and Jews–are considered a constitutive part of Kurdistan. The Kurds have a long tradition of multicultural, multi-religious tolerance. [source]

88

The Lover

A.B. Yehoshua

4.0

“Elusive, haunting.”—New York Times Book Review

A husband’s search for his wife’s lover, lost amid the turbulence of the Yom Kippur War, is the heart of this dreamlike novel. Through five different perspectives, Yehoshua explores the realities and consequences of the affair and the search, laying bare deep-rooted tensions within family, between generations, between Jews and Arabs.

“[A] profound stud

89

The People of Forever Are Not Afraid

Shani Boianjiu

4.0

Yael, Avishag, and Lea grow up together in a tiny, dusty Israeli village, attending a high school made up of caravan classrooms, passing notes to each other to alleviate the universal boredom of teenage life. When they are conscripted into the army, their lives change in unpredictable ways, influencing the women they become and the friendship that they struggle to sustain. Yael trains marksmen and

90

The Secret Chord

Geraldine Brooks

4.0

Peeling away the myth to bring the Old Testament's King David to life in Second Iron Age Israel, Brooks traces the arc of his journey from obscurity to fame, from shepherd to soldier, from hero to traitor, from beloved king to murderous despot and into his remorseful and diminished dotage.

The Secret Chord provides new context for some of the best-known episodes of David’s life while also focusing

91

שלוש קומות

Eshkol Nevo

4.0

"קורה משהו. אני לא יכולה לספר אותו לאף אחד. אבל חייבת לספר אותו למישהו."

אף פעם אי אפשר לדעת מה באמת מתרחש מאחורי הדלת של השכנים.
שלושה וידויים עוצרי נשימה של שלושה דיירים בבניין אחד במרכז הארץ משתלבים זה בזה
וחושפים את הסודות והשקרים שבלעדיהם משפחות לא יכולות להתקיים.

אשכול נבו נוטל הפעם את הז'אנר הקלאסי של הווידוי, צולל עמו אל זרמי המעמקים של החברה הישראלית
ומוכיח שוב את כישרונו המזהיר למשוך בחו

92

Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel

Max Blumenthal, Paul Michael Garcia

4.0

In Goliath, New York Times bestselling author Max Blumenthal takes us on a journey through the badlands and high roads of Israel-Palestine, painting a startling portrait of Israeli society under the siege of increasingly authoritarian politics as the occupation of the Palestinians deepens.

Beginning with the national elections carried out during Israel's war on Gaza in 2008-09, which brought into p

93

Four Meals

Meir Shalev, Barbara Harshav

4.0

From the author of the critically acclaimed A Pigeon and a Boy, the extraordinary story of Zayde, his enigmatic mother Judith, and her three loversWhen Judith arrives in a small, rural village in Palestine in the early 1930s, three men compete for her attention: Globerman, the cunning, coarse cattle-dealer who loves women, money, and flesh; Jacob, owner of hundreds of canaries and host to the four

94

My Life

Golda Meir

4.0

My Life is the autobiography of the first female Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir. The book is both frank and very revealing of her personality and goals. Her total lack of pretense is especially winning. Meir's practical idealism can be seen in efforts as diverse as the beautification of kibbutzim and her strong advocacy of unemployment benefits. The work that 'most concerned and interested m

95

The Holy Land for Christian Travelers: An Illustrated Guide to Israel

John A. Beck

4.0

A trip to the Holy Land is on the bucket list of many Christians. But planning a meaningful trip in a place so filled with significant sites is an imposing task. Most travel guides are not prepared to link the Bible and land in an accurate and meaningful way because they are written for people of all faiths. So how can a Christian traveler prepare a trip that will illuminate God's Word and reveal

96

The Best Place on Earth

Ayelet Tsabari

4.0

Confident, original and humane, the stories in The Best Place on Earth are peopled with characters at the crossroads of nationalities, religions and communities: expatriates, travellers, immigrants and locals.

In the powerfully affecting opening story, “Tikkun,” a chance meeting between a man and his former lover carries them through near tragedy and into unexpected peace. In “Casualties,” Tsabari

97

Menachem Begin: The Battle for Israel's Soul

Daniel Gordis

4.0

Reviled as a fascist by his great rival Ben-Gurion, venerated by Israel’s underclass, the first Israeli to win the Nobel Peace Prize, a proud Jew but not a conventionally religious one, Menachem Begin was both complex and controversial. Born in Poland in 1913, Begin was a youthful admirer of the Revisionist Zionist Ze’ev Jabotinsky and soon became a leader within Jabotinsky’s Betar movement. A pow

98

The English Assassin

Daniel Silva

4.0

Art restorer and sometime spy Gabriel Allon is asked to visit Zurich, to clean the work of an Old Master for a millionaire banker. But when he gets there he finds the corpse of his client in a pool of blood beneath the masterpiece, and discovers that a secret collection of priceless paintings – stolen by Nazis in the war – is missing.

With the Swiss authorities trying to pin the murder on Allon and

99

Undeniable: Full Color Evidence of Black Israelites In The Bible

Dante Fortson

4.0

100

The Israelis: Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Land

Donna Rosenthal

4.0

Israel is smaller than New Jersey, with 0.11% of the world's population, yet captures a lion's share of headlines. It looks like one country on CNN, a very different one on al-Jazeera. The BBC has their version, The New York Times theirs. But how does Israel look to Israelis?

The answers are varied, and they have been brought together here in one of the most original books about Israel in decades.