On the Bookshelf

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Independence and Politics: Crossroads in the Shaping of Israel's Political System (FORTHCOMING IN APRIL 2024)

Meir Chazan, translated by Merav Datan

Deeply explores the political landscape of Isarel during the years 1947-1949. 

Learn more about "Independence and Politics: Crossroads in the Shaping of Israel's Political System"

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Jacqueline Kahanoff: A Levantine Woman

David Ohana

Explores the life of remarkable Egyptian-Jewish intellectual, whose work has secured her place in literary pantheon as a herald of Levantine, Mediterranean, and transnational culture.

Learn more about "Jacqueline Kahanoff: A Levantine Woman"

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Ruth Blau A Life of Paradox and Purpose

Motti Inbari

Explores the life of Ruth Blau, the only full-lenght biography of her to exist, where we get insights about the life of a mysterious yet remarkable character in modern jewish history. 

Learn more about "Ruth Blau: A Life of Paradox and Purpose"

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Walking the Land: A History of Israeli Hiking Trails

Shay Rabineau

Explores the rich tapestry of Israel's history, its unique national identity, and its dedicated conservation efforts, all intricately intertwined with the trails that have remained largely unexplored by scholars and unknown to the world's millions of foreign visitors. 

Learn more about "Walking the Land: A History of Israeli Hiking Trails"

 

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Land Law and Policy in Israel: A Prism of Identity

Haim Sandberg

Argues that Israel's identity can best be understood by deciphering the code that lies in the Hebrew secret of Israeli dry land law. According to Sandberg, by examining the complex facets of property law and land policy, one finds a unique prism for comprehending Israel's most pronounced identity problems.

Learn more about "Land Law and Policy in Israel: A Prism of Identity"

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David Ben-Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy

Nir Kedar, translated by Haim Watzman

Offers a poignant study of the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Kedar provides an explication of the making of Israeli democracy in terms of its institutional-legal structures and social-cultural underpinnings.

Learn more about "David Ben-Gurion and the Foundation of Israeli Democracy"

Painted image of an unltraorthodox man cradling a torah, with houses on fire in the background
Holocaust Memory in Ultraorthodox Society in Israel

Michal Shaul, translated by Lenn J. Schramm and Gail Wald

Offers a rare mix of empathy and scholarly rigor to understandings of the role that the community's collective memories and survivor mentality have played in creating Israel's national identity.

Learn more about "Holocaust Memory in Ultraorthodox Society in Israel"

Black and white photo of people amidst rubble, with a blue sky above and the title laid over it in red letters
Israeli Community Action: Civic Associations and Community Resilience

Paula Kabalo

Illuminates how the engagement of Israelis in community efforts brought them together and shored them up to face the future in their new country.

Learn more about "Israeli Community Action: Civic Associations and Community Resilience"

Flags of various counties on flagpoles, with the Israeli flag in the center
Israeli Foreign Policy: A People Shall Not Dwell Alone

Uri Bialer

Lays a foundation for understanding the principal aspects of Israeli foreign policy from the early days of the state's existence to the Oslo Accords. 

Learn more about "Israeli Foreign Policy: A People Shall Not Dwell Alone"

Watch the author discuss the book in a webinar held by UCLA's Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies on January 25, 2021

Black and white drawing of two people looking at colorful flyers posted on round kiosk
Yiddish in Israel: A History

Rachel Rojanski

Tells the compelling and yet unknown story of how Yiddish, the most widely used Jewish language in the pre-Holocaust world, fared in Zionist Israel, the land of Hebrew.

Learn more about "Yiddish in Israel: A History"

Man with a pitchfork in a sepia-tone photograph
From Schlemiel to Sabra: Zionist Masculinity and Palestinian Hebrew Literature

Philip Hollander

Examines how masculine ideals and images of the New Hebrew man shaped the Israeli state. 

Learn more about "From Schlemiel to Sabra: Zionist Masculinity and Palestinian Hebrew Literature"

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My Struggle for Peace: The Diary of Moshe Sharett, 1953-1956

Neil Caplan and Kobi Sharett

An intimate record of the decline of Moshe Sharett’s moderate approach and the rise of more "activist-militant" trends in Israeli society, culminating in the Suez/Sinai war of 1956. 

Learn more about "My Struggle for Peace: The Diary of Moshe Sharett"

Photo of Menachem Begin with book title overlay
Menachem Begin and the Israel-Egypt Peace Process: Between Ideology and Political Realism

Gerald M. Steinberg and Ziv RubinovitzI

Illuminates the complexities that Menachem Begin faced in navigating between ideology and political realism in the negotiations towards a peace treaty that remains a unique diplomatic achievement.

Learn more about "Menachem Begin and the Israel-Egypt Peace Process: Between Ideology and Political Realism"

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Arabs and Jews in Ottoman Palestine: Two Worlds Collide

Alan Dowty

Traces the earliest roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict to the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, arguing that this historical approach highlights constant clashes between religious and ethnic groups in Palestine.

Learn more about "Arabs and Jews in Ottoman Palestine: Two Worlds Collide"

The Palestinian National Revival
The Palestinian National Revival: In the Shadow of the Leadership Crisis, 1939–1967

Moshe Shemesh

Former Israeli intelligence officer Moshe Shemesh offers a fresh understanding of the complex history and politics of the Middle East in this new analysis of the Palestinian national movement.

Learn more about "The Palestinian National Revival: in the Shadow of the Leadership Crisis (1939-1967)"

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Essential Israel: Essays for the 21st Century
Ilan Troen and Rachel Fish, eds.

Examines a wide variety of complex issues and current concerns in historical and contemporary contexts to provide readers with an intimate sense of the dynamic society and culture that is Israel today.

Learn more about "Essential Israel: Essays for the 21st Century"

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The Limits of the Land: How the Struggle for the West Bank Shaped the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Avshalom Rubin

Was Israel's occupation of the West Bank inevitable? From 1949-1967, the West Bank was the center of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Learn more about "The Limits of the Land: How the Struggle for the West Bank Shaped the Arab-Israel Conflict"

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Birthrate Politics in Zion: Judaism, Nationalism, and Modernity under the British Mandate

Lilach Rosenberg-Friedman

Despite both national and traditional imperatives to have many children, the birthrate of the Jewish community in British Mandate Palestine declined steadily from 1920-1948. During these years Jews were caught in contradictions between political and social objectives, religion, culture and individual needs.

Learn more about "Birthrate Politics in Zion: Judaism, Nationalism, and Modernity under the British Mandate"

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Oriental Neighbors: Middle Eastern Jews and Arabs in Mandatory Palestine

Abigail Jacobson and Moshe Naor

A fresh look at Jewish-Arab Relations in Palestine under the British Mandate.

Learn more about "Oriental Neighbors: Middle Eastern Jews and Arabs in Mandatory Palestine"

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The War of 1948: Representations of Israeli and Palestinian Memories and Narratives

Avraham Sela and Alon Kadish, eds.

The 1948 War is remembered in this special volume, including aspects of Israeli-Jewish memory and Israeli-Palestinian memory.

Learn more about "The War of 1948: Representations of Israeli and Palestinian Memories and Narratives"

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A Home for All Jews: Citizenship, Rights and National Identity in the New Israeli State

Orit Rozin

Sheds new light on the inner workings of the early Israeli state and the sensibilities of its population.

Learn more about "A Home for All Jews: Citizenship, Rights, and National Identity in the New Israeli State"

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Self as Nation: Contemporary Hebrew Autobiography

Tamar Hess

Reveals the intimate ties between selfhood and nationality, life story and national narrative, through Hebrew autobiography.

Learn more about "Self as Nation: Contemporary Hebrew Autobiography"

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Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: 1929

Hillel Cohen

A new and provocative reassessment of the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Learn more about "Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: 1929"

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Israeli Society in the Twenty-First Century: Immigration, Inequality and Religious Conflict

Calvin Goldscheider

A data-based analysis of social life and social problems in contemporary Israel that draws a vivid portrait of a dynamic and rapidly changing society.

Learn more about "Israeli Society in the Twenty-First Century: Immigration, Inequality, and Religious Conflict"

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The Zionist Paradox: Hebrew Literature & Israeli Identity

Yigal Schwartz

A comprehensive reinterpretation of the development of Hebrew and Israeli literature against the backdrop of the Zionist ideal.

Learn more about "The Zionist Paradox: Hebrew Literature and Israeli Identity"

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Becoming Israeli: National Ideals and Everyday Life in the 1950s

Anat Helman

With a light touch and many wonderful illustrations, historian Anat Helman shows how ordinary people negotiated the chaos of early statehood.

Learn more about "Becoming Israeli: National Ideals and Everyday Life in the 1950s"

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A Jewish Kapo in Auschwitz: History, Memory, and the Politics of Survival

Tuvia Friling

The biography of the Communist Jewish Kapo whose controversy-ridden story spans Europe and Israel. "An astonishingly excellent work of historical reconstruction and interpretation..."

Learn more about "A Jewish Kapo in Auschwitz: History, Memory, and the Politics of Survival"

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Palestine Between Politics and Terror: 1945-1947

Motti Golani

A fascinating look at the end of British rule in Palestine, through the eyes of its final high commissioner.

Learn more about "Palestine Between Politics and Terror: 1945-1947"

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A Poetics of Trauma: The Work of Dahlia Ravikovitch

Ilana Szobel

Astute analysis of the work of the great Israeli poet through the lens of psychoanalysis, gender, nationalism, and trauma theory.

Learn more about "A Poetics of Trauma: The Work of Dahlia Ravikovitch"

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Israel: A History

Anita Shapira

Written by one of Israel’s most notable scholars, this volume provides a breathtaking history of Israel from the origins of the Zionist movement in the late 19th century to the present day.

Learn more about "Israel: A History"

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The Rise of the Individual in 1950s Israel: A Challenge to Collectivism

Orit Rozin

A history of Israel in the early state period that overturns traditional accounts of Israeli society in the 1950s. Rozin examines major sectors of Israeli society that espoused individualism and opposed the state-imposed collectivist ideology.

Learn more about "The Rise of the Individual in 1950s Israel: A Challenge to Collectivism"

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Land and Desire in Early Zionism

Boaz Neumann

Desire for the Land and a visceral identification with it begin to explain the pioneer experience and its impact on Israeli history and collective memory as well as on Israelis' abiding connection to the Land of Israel.

Learn more about "Land and Desire in Early Zionism"

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Tel Aviv, The First Century: Vision, Designs, Actualities

Maoz Azaryahu and S. Ilan Troen, eds.

Traces the development and paradoxes of Tel Aviv as an urban center and a national symbol. 

Learn more about "Tel Aviv, The First Century: Vision, Designs, Actualities"

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Militarism and Israeli Society

Gabriel Sheffer and Oren Barak, eds.

The Israeli case offers insights about the role of the military and security in democratic nations in contemporary times.

Learn more about "Militarism and Israeli Society"

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Young Tel Aviv: A Tale of Two Cities

Anat Helman

Based on a painstaking study of myriad of archival and cultural sources, Helman’s study "presents the rich texture of daily life and public events in young Tel Aviv as it was developing into a major urban center of the Zionist Yishuv."— Yael Zerubavel, Rutgers University

Learn more about "Young Tel Aviv: A Tale of Two Cities"

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Yehuda Amichai: The Making of Israel's National Poet

Nili Scharf Gold

"By uncovering the European roots of this central, widely read and much translated Israeli author, Gold opens the way for other similar studies of the European background of Israeli writing. Her book will be indispensable for all future studies of Amichai's poetry."— Arnold Band, Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature, University of California at Los Angeles

Learn more about "Yehuda Amichai: The Making of Israel's National Poet"

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Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics, and Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present, Second Edition

Itamar Rabinovich and Jehuda Reinharz

This timely anthology provides convenient access to the most significant documents of the Zionist movement since 1882 and of Israel's domestic and foreign policy issues between 1948 and 2006.

Learn more about "Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics, and Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to Present"