Tom Segev

A New York Times Editor's Choice Best Book and a recipient of he National Jewish Book Award. One Palestine, Complete explores the tumultuous era of the British Mandate (1917 to 1948). Drawing on untapped archival materials, the internationally acclaimed historian Tom Segev reconstructs the period before the creation of the state of Israel --- a time of limitless possibilities and tragic missteps, when Britain's promise to both Jew and Arabs that they would inherit the land set in motion the conflict that haunts the region to this day. Segev introduces an array of unforgettable characters, tracks the steady advance of Jew and Arabs toward confrontation, and puts forth a radical new argument: that the British, far from being pro-Arab, consistently favored the Zionist position, out of the mistaken 0 and anti-Semitic - belief that Jews turned the wheels of history.
Rich in historical detail, sensitive to all perspectives, One Palestine, Complete brilliantly depicts the decline of an empire, the birth of one nation, and the tragedy of another.

Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate

One Palestine, Complete

From Israel's leading historian, a sweeping history of 1967--the war, what led up to it, what came after, and how it changed everything. Journalist Segev recounts the watershed year when six days of war reshaped the country and the entire region. Going far beyond a military account, Segev re-creates the crisis in Israel before 1967, showing how economic recession, a full grasp of the Holocaust's horrors, and the dire threats made by neighbor states combined to produce a climate of apocalypse. He depicts the country's bravado after its victory, an era of new possibilities and tragic missteps. He introduces Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Gamal Abdul Nasser, and Lyndon Johnson, and an epic cast of soldiers, lobbyists, refugees, and settlers. He reveals Israel's intimacy with the White House and the political rivalries that sabotaged any chance of peace. Above all, describing a series of disastrous miscalculations, he challenges the view that the war was inevitable.--From publisher description.

Israel, the war, and the year that transformed the Middle East

1967

A new history of Israel presents the Holocaust as the defining event of modern Jewish history and the most important impetus for the formation of the State of Israel. Reprint.

The Israelis and the Holocaust

The Seventh Million

A panoramic history of Palestine under the British mandate chronicles a turbulent thirty-year history, from 1917 to 1948, that set the stage for the conflict between Arabs and Jews that still haunts the region today, profiling the key figures and documenting the important events, that shaped Palestine. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

A fully documented profile of the "Nazi hunter" famous for his unrelenting pursuit of Nazi criminals draws on extensive international records to discuss such topics as his role in capturing Adolf Eichmann, rivalry with Elie Wiesel, and infamy later in life.

The Life and Legends

Simon Wiesenthal

The founding of Israel in 1948--one of the seminal events of the century--offers a heroic narrative with few parallels in modern history. In 1949, a controversial best-seller in Israel, Tom Segev draws on thousands of declassified documents along with personal diaries and correspondence to reconstruct the unvarnished story of Israel's first year. Segev reveals the lofty aspirations that guided the state's leaders as well as the darker side of the Zionist utopia: the friction between the early settlers and the immigrants, the lack of good-faith negotiations with the Arabs; the clash between religious and secular factions; the daily collision of the Zionist myth with the severe realities of life in the new state. Unflinching in its observations, this bold chronicle is indispensible for understanding the dilemmas that continue to confront--and divide--Israeli society.

The First Israelis

1949

'Tom Segev's meticulously researched and most elegantly written new biography of David Ben-Gurion is a must for anybody interested in both the glorious and the dark pages of the history of Zionism and Israel, as reflected throughout the life and times of the Jewish State's most important founding father' Saul Friedländer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Nazi Germany and the Jews and Where Memory Leads. As the founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion long ago secured his reputation as a leading figure of the twentieth century. Determined from an early age to create a Jewish state, he took control of the Zionist movement, declared Israel's independence, and navigated his country through wars, controversies and remarkable achievements. In this definitive biography, Tom Segev uses previously unreleased archival material to give an original, nuanced account that transcends the myths and legends that have built up around the man. He reveals Ben-Gurion's secret negotiations with the British on the eve of Israel's independence, his willingness to countenance the forced transfer of Arab neighbours, his relative indifference to Jerusalem, and his occasional eccentric moments – from UFO sightings to plans for Israel to acquire territory in South America. The result is a full and startling portrait of a man who sought a state 'at any cost' – at times through risk-taking, violence, and unpredictability, and at other times through compromise, moderation and reason. Segev's Ben-Gurion is neither a saint nor a villain but a twentieth-century leader whose iron will and complex temperament left a contentious legacy, and one of the world's most intractable national conflicts.

The Life of David Ben-Gurion

A State at Any Cost

Drawing on personal experience as well as all kinds of artifacts from Israeli popular cultureshopping malls, fast food, public art, television, religious kitschhe puts forward his controversial view that the sweeping Americanization of the country, rued by most, has had an extraordinarily beneficial influence, bringing not only McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts but the virtues of pragmatism, tolerance, and individualism.

Post-Zionism and the Americanization of Israel

Elvis in Jerusalem

2019 National Jewish Book Award Finalist "[A] fascinating biography . . . a masterly portrait of a titanic yet unfulfilled man . . . this is a gripping study of power, and the loneliness of power." —The Economist As the founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion long ago secured his reputation as a leading figure of the twentieth century. Determined from an early age to create a Jewish state, he thereupon took control of the Zionist movement, declared Israel’s independence, and navigated his country through wars, controversies and remarkable achievements. And yet Ben-Gurion remains an enigma—he could be driven and imperious, or quizzical and confounding. In this definitive biography, Israel’s leading journalist-historian Tom Segev uses large amounts of previously unreleased archival material to give an original, nuanced account, transcending the myths and legends that have accreted around the man. Segev’s probing biography ranges from the villages of Poland to Manhattan libraries, London hotels, and the hills of Palestine, and shows us Ben-Gurion’s relentless activity across six decades. Along the way, Segev reveals for the first time Ben-Gurion’s secret negotiations with the British on the eve of Israel’s independence, his willingness to countenance the forced transfer of Arab neighbors, his relative indifference to Jerusalem, and his occasional “nutty moments”—from UFO sightings to plans for Israel to acquire territory in South America. Segev also reveals that Ben-Gurion first heard about the Holocaust from a Palestinian Arab acquaintance, and explores his tempestuous private life, including the testimony of four former lovers. The result is a full and startling portrait of a man who sought a state “at any cost”—at times through risk-taking, violence, and unpredictability, and at other times through compromise, moderation, and reason. Segev’s Ben-Gurion is neither a saint nor a villain but rather a historical actor who belongs in the company of Lenin or Churchill—a twentieth-century leader whose iron will and complex temperament left a complex and contentious legacy that we still reckon with today.

'Tom Segev's meticulously researched and most elegantly written new biography of David Ben-Gurion is a must for anybody interested in both the glorious and the dark pages of the history of Zionism and Israel, as reflected throughout the life and times of the Jewish State's most important founding father' Saul Friedlander, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Nazi Germany and the Jews and Where Memory Leads. As the founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion long ago secured his reputation as a leading figure of the twentieth century. Determined from an early age to create a Jewish state, he took control of the Zionist movement, declared Israel's independence, and navigated his country through wars, controversies and remarkable achievements. In this definitive biography, Tom Segev uses previously unreleased archival material to give an original, nuanced account that transcends the myths and legends that have built up around the man. He reveals Ben-Gurion's secret negotiations with the British on the eve of Israel's independence, his willingness to countenance the forced transfer of Arab neighbours, his relative indifference to Jerusalem, and his occasional eccentric moments - from UFO sightings to plans for Israel to acquire territory in South America. The result is a full and startling portrait of a man who sought a state 'at any cost' - at times through risk-taking, violence, and unpredictability, and at other times through compromise, moderation and reason. Segev's Ben-Gurion is neither a saint nor a villain but a twentieth-century leader whose iron will and complex temperament left a contentious legacy, and one of the world's most intractable national conflicts.

A State at Any Cost: the Life of David Ben-Gurion

תום שגב

מעשה באחד מפקידי הממשל הבריטי בארץ ישראל שהיה חובש תרבוש בלכתו בין ערבים, ומגבעת אירופית בבואו אל היהודים. פעם נקלע האיש לקטטה בין ערבים ליהודים. הוא מיהר להתקשר אל מחלקתו: האם עליו לחבוש את התרבוש או את המגבעת? הנחו אותו לחבוש את שניהם. הנה תמצית הדילמה של הבריטים בארץ ישראל. ספר זה מגולל את סיפורה של תקופת המנדט כפי שלא סופר עד כה. תום שגב כותב בסגנון מרתק, תוך שילוב מיוחד במינו בין ראייה היסטורית כוללת להקפדה על פרטי "צבע". כמו ספריו הקודמים, גם ספר זה מבוסס על מחקר ממושך שחשף בין היתר יומנים מדיניים ומכתבים אישיים אשר לא פורסמו מעולם.

ארץ ישראל בתקופת המנדט

ימי הכלניות

70 Jahre Israel – die große Biographie des Staatsgründers David Ben Gurion Er ist eine der großen politischen Gestalten des 20. Jahrhunderts: David Grün, geboren 1886 im Russischen Reich, der sich seit seiner Ankunft in Palästina 1906 Ben Gurion nannte. Schon früh engagierte er sich für den Zionismus und die Unabhängigkeit eines jüdischen Staates in Palästina. Als er 1948 schließlich den neuen Staat ausrief, setzte er die Interessen Israels um jeden Preis durch, nicht zuletzt auf Kosten der Palästinenser, die aus ihrer Heimat vertrieben wurden. Der international renommierte Journalist und Bestsellerautor Tom Segev (»Die siebte Million«) widmet sich in seiner großen Biographie dem Leben und Wirken des Gründers des Staates, der aus Palästina hervorgegangen ist – und erzählt zugleich eine Weltgeschichte Israels im 20. Jahrhundert.

Ein Staat um jeden Preis

David Ben Gurion

The Commandants of the Nazi Concentration Camps

Soldiers of Evil

“A marvelous achievement . . . Anyone curious about the extraordinary six days of Arab-Israeli war will learn much from it.”—The Economist Tom Segev’s acclaimed One Palestine, Complete and The Seventh Million overturned accepted views of the history of Israel. Now, in 1967, he brings his masterful skills to the watershed year when six days of war reshaped the country and the entire region. Going far beyond a military account, Segev re-creates the apocalyptic climate in Israel before the war as well as the country’s bravado after its victory. He introduces the legendary figures—Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Lyndon Johnson—and an epic cast of soldiers, lobbyists, refugees, and settlers. He reveals as never before Israel’s intimacy with the White House, and the political rivalries that sabotaged any chance of peace. Above all, Segev challenges the view that the war was inevitable, showing that behind the bloodshed was a series of disastrous miscalculations. Vibrant and original, 1967 is sure to stand as the definitive account of that pivotal year.

Tom Segev

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