Essential Israel: Essays for the 21st Century
S. Ilan Troen and Rachel Fish, eds.
Essential Israel is an innovative and engaging volume of essays designed for American readers who want to be better-informed about Israel: its history and culture, its place in the Middle East, and its changing relations to the United Nations and the United States. In a highly readable style, expert contributors illuminate current issues and concerns in their historical and contemporary contexts. Each chapter can be read as an independent unit, but chapters also cluster naturally around such topics as the Arab-Israeli conflict and the peace process; Zionism and settlement; the Holocaust; immigration, religion, and issues of personal status in a Jewish and democratic state; American Jews and Israel; changing Christian and Muslim attitudes to Israel; and identity as expressed in the Hebrew language through Israeli literature, film, and music. The volume’s diverse essays provide a compelling and nuanced view of complexity essential for a grounded understanding of Israel and the public debate that surrounds it today.
Rachel Fish PhD '13, is associate director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies and teaches Israeli history at Brandeis University.
This volume is published by Indiana University Press as part of their Perspectives on Israel Studies series.
“Contemporary Israel commands considerable public attention, yet literacy about Israel is surprisingly limited. This collection of original essays probes “Israel literacy” without polemics or advocacy. It raises public understanding by pressing key questions about Israel, its politics, demography, international relations, and culture. Short of travel to and study in Israel itself, this is the next best thing. An indispensable addition to make to your book shelf.”
Kenneth Waltzer
Professor Emeritus of History and Former Director of Jewish Studies, Michigan State University