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Israel is Real
Israel is Real
Nov 6, 2024 5:47 PM

Author:Rich Cohen

Israel is Real

There are many books about Israel, but none like this. From Rich Cohen, the author of the acclaimed Tough Jews, The Avengers, and Sweet and Low, comes a new approach to a story we thought we knew. Breaking through the heated polemics and intractable politics, Israel Is Real is a fresh voice, a tale of people and ideas, of the background of present-day Israel.

Cohen relates Israel's story as that of a place long ago destroyed and transformed into an idea . . . and which, sixty years ago, was retransformed into a place, and therefore into something that can once again be destroyed. From the medieval false prophets, to the nineteenth-century Zionists, and on to present-day figures like Ariel Sharon, Cohen tells the stories of the people obsessed with this fine line between place and idea, creation and destruction. He reclaims from obscurity a multitude of figures marginalised by history, but whose lives are key to any real understanding of Israel.

Reviews

Accomplishes the miraculous. It made a subject that has vexed me since early childhood into a riveting story... by narrating the oft-told saga of the Jews in a fresh and engaging fashion. Provocative and entertaining … Cohen brings tough love to Judaism and modern Israel

—— Tony Horowitz , The New York Times Book Review

A smart, energetic overview of the history of Israel and its relation to the Jewish people, from biblical times to the present. Cohen's narrative is propelled by muscular prose and an irreverent wit at times reminiscent of Jon Stewart.... Absorbing, clear-eyed history

—— Boston Globe

A sweeping and impressionistic saga... [which] also happens to be a page-turning delight to read. What other book about Zionist history has ever included references to “Howl,” “Goodfellas,” Joseph Mitchell, and Willie Dixon? I commend and admire this book

—— Samuel. G. Freedman , Chicago Tribune

This diary does capture a great moment in time

—— Alastair Mabbott , Herald

This is a big, noble book by a proper reporter who travels the world and gives the Mr Bigs of global crime a poke in the eye... uncomfortable but compelling reading... You must read it

—— Literary Review

Horrifying but gripping book...vivid and involving

—— Daily Telegraph

A substantial book that features, among a gallery of extraordinary crime scenes, some of the most compelling analyses of the Balkan tragedy and the creation of a post-Soviet economy

—— Observer

Wonderful reporting... Glenny's excitement in the chase after global crime, with its often grotesque and always revealing details, makes reading this book a rich pleasure

—— Neal Ascherson , London Review of Books

This is a well sustained narrative dealing seamlessly, if dismayingly, with the tricks, motives and rewards of the new global underworld

—— Independent on Sunday

This terrific expose of big-ticket felonies from China to Brazil is as stuffed with outsize crooks and scams as a smuggler's suitcase with fake Rolex

—— Independent

A fascinating account of global organised crime

—— Scotsman, Books of the Year

This ingeniously constructed history shows that what we think of as personal appetites have largely been constructed by the machinations of empire. The Hungry Empire uses vivid snapshots of meals to tell the story of how Britain's quest for food drove its imperial ambitions. Collingham takes the reader on a powerful journey ... Like Sidney Mintz or Margaret Visser, Collingham is a historian whose writing about food informs larger stories about human existence: about conflict and culture, about economics and politics. I was dazzled by Collingham's writing and her book also left me very hungry

—— Bee Wilson, author of FIRST BITE

The fourth in the grand series of Isaiah Berlin’s correspondence [...] keeps up the flow of high cultural commentary and gossip

—— Jewish Chronicle

Affirming is an excellent source for the understanding of Berlin's thought in various contexts. But the letters also show Berlin's capacity for friendship, his sympathetic understanding of characters and viewpoints... At the risk of solecism, Icn bin ein Berliner

—— Brendan McLaughlin , Oldie

Isaiah Berlin is considered one of the letter-writers of the 20th century... those who give into temptation to flick through will be infinitely rewarded

—— Oxford Times

Sparkles with brilliance and generosity

—— Jon M. Sweeney , The Tablet

Meticulously edited and footnoted.

—— Robert Fulford , National Post

An impressively probing and timely work...Highly engaging

—— Publishers Weekly

Scintillating...Age of Anger looks an awful lot like a masterwork. We're only a few weeks into 2017, but one of the books of the year is already here

—— Christopher Bray , The Tablet

Hearts and Minds makes it very plain why Mrs Fawcett deserves her statue in Parliament Square. Robinson has
researched the lives of ordinary suffragists as well as the stars of the movement, and her book is clear-headed,
perceptive and thoroughly engaging. From her narrative it's clear also how important Mrs Pankhurst was in
bringing passion, anger and publicity to the women's cause. I think she deserves a statue too.

—— Spectator

That six-week effort, in which rivulets of backpack-toting, banner-carrying suffragists, skirts a daring four inches above the ground, marched from every corner of England and Wales to gather for a mass meeting in London in late July, has never been thoroughly documented. It is nice to see it feature centrally here.

—— Susan Pedersen , London Review of Books

Hearts And Minds is a timely reminder of the courage of these unsung campaigners

—— Daily Mail
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