Overview

Full Product Details

Author:   Zeev Sternhell ,  David Maisel
Publisher:   Princeton University Press
Imprint:   Princeton University Press
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Width: 19.70cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 25.40cm
Weight:   0.624kg
ISBN:  

9780691009674

ISBN 10:   0691009678
Pages:   464
Publication Date:   27 December 1999
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Language:   English

Table of Contents

Reviews

Some of his interpretations may occasionally be questioned, but one cannot doubt the intellectual courage and erudition of this professor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where his strong secularism and his devotion to the heritage of the Enlightenment make him both the leader of a school and an outstanding figure. --Alain-GCrard Slama, Le Figaro Zeev Sternhell ... has observed as a historian the reality behind the myth that had assured the power of the Labor Movement for nearly forty years, until the arrival of Menahem Begin and the Likud in 1977. First surprise: the stereotype of the soldier-peasant, which one associates with the Jewish society of Palestine before 1948, masked a principle far-removed from the bucolic reveries of the 'founding fathers'... Had Sternhell simply shown how the socialist leaders--under the crushing weight of constraining realities--amended their program and sacrificed their egalitarian ideology on the altar of pragmatism, he would not have produced an original book. The interest of this work, however, comes from Sternhell's demonstration that the primacy given to national objectives indeed proceeded from an ideological choice. --Nicholas Weill, Le Monde des Livres Not every day does one come across a history book of such great contemporary significance as that of Zeev Sternhell... This is a very important book, which raises historical questions of an ever-fresh political significance. --Yosef Agassi, Maariv Cultural Supplement The key words figuring in the studies of the founding fathers until now have been improvisation, pragmatism, inventiveness, innovation, and lack of dogmatism... With professional competence, vigor, and a clear ... style, [Sternhell] challenges this description. --Menachem Brinker, Haaretz Book Supplement [T]his is one of the most provocative of the recent rash of 'post-Zionist' studies that debunk earlier works on Israel's founding fathers and mothers. -- Kirkus Reviews This book will undoubtedly create discussion and debate for some time. An excellent companion to Simha Flapan's The Birth of Israel (LJ 8/87) and worthy reading for anyone interested in comparative political development. -- Library Journal [Sternhell's] work has an analytical intensity, a solidity and erudition generally lacking among the so-called 'new [post-Zionist] historians.' Not for Sternhell the ethical relativism of the postmodernists. His values are clearly those of the old Left... This is the yardstick from which he judges the Israeli labour movement, and he finds it deeply flawed. --Robert S. Wistrich, The Times Literary Supplement Sternhell's conclusions on Israel's expansionism after 1967 are important and powerful... The demythologizing work of Sternhell and his fellow 'new historians' is, finally, profoundly constructive--as they clearly intended it to be. --Jerome Slater, Political Science Quarterly Sternhell's objective is to take a complete inventory of [two forces shaping Israeli identity]: nationalism and socialism. This wide-ranging ambition, borne of a historian's true inspiration, rests on impressive documentation. --Franois Furet, Le Nouvel Observateur Sternhell definitely mastered the relevant history. His view is impressively informative, and this meticulous book is packed with information, anecdotes, insights, and quotations... Knowledgeable students of Israel, interested in its political and ideological history, will find Sternhell's book both highly useful and indispensable. --Nachman Ben-Yehuda, American Journal of Sociology [A] fiercely polemical--but assiduously researched--demolition job on ... comfortable myths... The central myth Sternhell attacks is that of the socialist, liberal and democratic values of Israel's pioneers. --Stephen Howe, The Independent

For decades, Israel's social-democratic Labor Party was the country's predominant political force, consistently holding a plurality of power against the right-wing revisionist and religious parties. Yet contemporary Israeli society has more social inequity than almost any other developed nation. Asks political scientist Sternhell (Hebrew Univ.): How can this be? Easy, he answers. From at least the 1920s and possibly earlier, the ruling elites of the Jewish settlement in Palestine were far more interested in increasing the Jewish population (about 75 percent of the total population was still Arab in 1947, the year of the UN's partition resolution) and in other forms of state-building than in redistributive socioeconomic policies. Sternhell exhaustively documents his thesis by quoting extensively from the writings and speeches of Labor Zionism's long-time political and ideological leaders, David Ben-Gurion and Bed Katznelson. As the latter put it in 1925, It is not the interests of class warfare that must determine the needs and strategy of the movement, but those of building up the land. Thus, the national workers' federation, the Histadrut, took on a strongly centrist orientation, in which a certain degree of anti-democratic tactics, as well as some financial corruption, were tolerated. The government was thus also uncompromising in staking Jewish claims to the land against those of Arabs. In general, this account is so focused on political ideology that it doesn't quite provide enough of a demographic, geopolitical, and historical context when it comes to issues of equity in Jewish-Arab relations or another matter he broaches, Zionism's commitment to rescue, rather than to internal issues, during the Holocaust. Still, for those fascinated by Zionist ideology and Israel's early history, this is one of the most provocative of the recent rash of post-Zionist studies that debunk earlier works on Israel's founding fathers and mothers. (Kirkus Reviews)

Some of his interpretations may occasionally be questioned, but one cannot doubt the intellectual courage and erudition of this professor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where his strong secularism and his devotion to the heritage of the Enlightenment make him both the leader of a school and an outstanding figure. -- Alain-GCrard Slama, Le Figaro Zeev Sternhell ... has observed as a historian the reality behind the myth that had assured the power of the Labor Movement for nearly forty years, until the arrival of Menahem Begin and the Likud in 1977. First surprise: the stereotype of the soldier-peasant, which one associates with the Jewish society of Palestine before 1948, masked a principle far-removed from the bucolic reveries of the 'founding fathers'... Had Sternhell simply shown how the socialist leaders--under the crushing weight of constraining realities--amended their program and sacrificed their egalitarian ideology on the altar of pragmatism, he would not have produced an original book. The interest of this work, however, comes from Sternhell's demonstration that the primacy given to national objectives indeed proceeded from an ideological choice. -- Nicholas Weill, Le Monde des Livres Not every day does one come across a history book of such great contemporary significance as that of Zeev Sternhell... This is a very important book, which raises historical questions of an ever-fresh political significance. -- Yosef Agassi, Maariv Cultural Supplement The key words figuring in the studies of the founding fathers until now have been improvisation, pragmatism, inventiveness, innovation, and lack of dogmatism... With professional competence, vigor, and a clear ... style, [Sternhell] challenges this description. -- Menachem Brinker, Haaretz Book Supplement [T]his is one of the most provocative of the recent rash of 'post-Zionist' studies that debunk earlier works on Israel's founding fathers and mothers. -- Kirkus Reviews This book will undoubtedly create discussion and debate for some time. An excellent companion to Simha Flapan's The Birth of Israel (LJ 8/87) and worthy reading for anyone interested in comparative political development. -- Library Journal [Sternhell's] work has an analytical intensity, a solidity and erudition generally lacking among the so-called 'new [post-Zionist] historians.' Not for Sternhell the ethical relativism of the postmodernists. His values are clearly those of the old Left... This is the yardstick from which he judges the Israeli labour movement, and he finds it deeply flawed. -- Robert S. Wistrich, The Times Literary Supplement Sternhell's conclusions on Israel's expansionism after 1967 are important and powerful... The demythologizing work of Sternhell and his fellow 'new historians' is, finally, profoundly constructive--as they clearly intended it to be. -- Jerome Slater, Political Science Quarterly Sternhell's objective is to take a complete inventory of [two forces shaping Israeli identity]: nationalism and socialism. This wide-ranging ambition, borne of a historian's true inspiration, rests on impressive documentation. -- Francois Furet, Le Nouvel Observateur Sternhell definitely mastered the relevant history. His view is impressively informative, and this meticulous book is packed with information, anecdotes, insights, and quotations... Knowledgeable students of Israel, interested in its political and ideological history, will find Sternhell's book both highly useful and indispensable. -- Nachman Ben-Yehuda, American Journal of Sociology [A] fiercely polemical--but assiduously researched--demolition job on ... comfortable myths... The central myth Sternhell attacks is that of the socialist, liberal and democratic values of Israel's pioneers. -- Stephen Howe, The Independent

Some of his interpretations may occasionally be questioned, but one cannot doubt the intellectual courage and erudition of this professor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where his strong secularism and his devotion to the heritage of the Enlightenment make him both the leader of a school and an outstanding figure. -- Alain-GCrard Slama Le Figaro Zeev Sternhell ... has observed as a historian the reality behind the myth that had assured the power of the Labor Movement for nearly forty years, until the arrival of Menahem Begin and the Likud in 1977. First surprise: the stereotype of the soldier-peasant, which one associates with the Jewish society of Palestine before 1948, masked a principle far-removed from the bucolic reveries of the 'founding fathers'... Had Sternhell simply shown how the socialist leaders--under the crushing weight of constraining realities--amended their program and sacrificed their egalitarian ideology on the altar of pragmatism, he would not have produced an original book. The interest of this work, however, comes from Sternhell's demonstration that the primacy given to national objectives indeed proceeded from an ideological choice. -- Nicholas Weill Le Monde des Livres Not every day does one come across a history book of such great contemporary significance as that of Zeev Sternhell... This is a very important book, which raises historical questions of an ever-fresh political significance. -- Yosef Agassi Maariv Cultural Supplement The key words figuring in the studies of the founding fathers until now have been improvisation, pragmatism, inventiveness, innovation, and lack of dogmatism... With professional competence, vigor, and a clear ... style, [Sternhell] challenges this description. -- Menachem Brinker Haaretz Book Supplement [T]his is one of the most provocative of the recent rash of 'post-Zionist' studies that debunk earlier works on Israel's founding fathers and mothers. Kirkus Reviews This book will undoubtedly create discussion and debate for some time. An excellent companion to Simha Flapan's The Birth of Israel (LJ 8/87) and worthy reading for anyone interested in comparative political development. Library Journal [Sternhell's] work has an analytical intensity, a solidity and erudition generally lacking among the so-called 'new [post-Zionist] historians.' Not for Sternhell the ethical relativism of the postmodernists. His values are clearly those of the old Left... This is the yardstick from which he judges the Israeli labour movement, and he finds it deeply flawed. -- Robert S. Wistrich The Times Literary Supplement Sternhell's conclusions on Israel's expansionism after 1967 are important and powerful... The demythologizing work of Sternhell and his fellow 'new historians' is, finally, profoundly constructive--as they clearly intended it to be. -- Jerome Slater Political Science Quarterly Sternhell's objective is to take a complete inventory of [two forces shaping Israeli identity]: nationalism and socialism. This wide-ranging ambition, borne of a historian's true inspiration, rests on impressive documentation. -- Francois Furet Le Nouvel Observateur Sternhell definitely mastered the relevant history. His view is impressively informative, and this meticulous book is packed with information, anecdotes, insights, and quotations... Knowledgeable students of Israel, interested in its political and ideological history, will find Sternhell's book both highly useful and indispensable. -- Nachman Ben-Yehuda American Journal of Sociology [A] fiercely polemical--but assiduously researched--demolition job on ... comfortable myths... The central myth Sternhell attacks is that of the socialist, liberal and democratic values of Israel's pioneers. -- Stephen Howe The Independent

Author Information

Zeev Sternhell is Lon Blum Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author, among works in several languages, of Neither Right nor Left and The Birth of Fascist Ideology, both published by Princeton University Press.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions