Books by Tom Segev

“The single volume that I recommend is by Tom Segev, an Israeli historian. He’s associated with the so-called ‘New Historians’ of Israel, most of whom have been very critical—in my view, unfairly so—of Israel’s founding. This book is non-partisan and straightforward. It tells you everything about Ben-Gurion and the title expresses the theme of his life, which was to secure a Jewish state no matter what had to be done. That meant no matter what compromises had to be made.” Read more...

The Best Biographies of 20th Century Leaders

Michael Mandelbaum, International Relation

“This book tells the story of the great interruption in European history – the Holocaust. It’s no accident that the Jewish reaction after the Holocaust was to return to Jerusalem. Zionism had been ambivalent about Jerusalem, but, after the Holocaust, that was no longer the case. Tom Segev’s book explains why. The title refers to the six million who died in the Holocaust; the seventh million are the Israelis who were traumatised by what happened.” Read more...

The best books on Jerusalem

James Carroll, Memoirist

“It was a mock receipt for the handover between high commissioners in Palestine: the one handing on to his successor ‘one Palestine, complete’, in the same way someone handing over a battleship might give it into the hands of the next commander, itemising all aspects of the battleship. So it’s very much a reflection of a British notion of their responsibilities as commanders of this colony or ship. But the irony of it is, of course, that Palestine was made, by the British, into a twice-contested land: between Palestinian Arabs and Jewish Zionist immigrants. It was a country slated for partition. Arabs and Jews in Palestine were taking Palestine in the direction of a divided land, not ‘one Palestine, complete’. But, actually, Segev doesn’t dwell on that irony at any length. Instead, what he gives us is a very human history about the encounter between British imperial rulers, the indigenous Arab people and the Jewish immigrants in the inter-war years, when Palestine was created as a British mandate. The book is very richly peopled – these vivid characters from all three communities – and Segev tracks the way they didn’t live in isolation from one another, but interacted and were shaped by each other. It’s a book full of startling challenges to assumed wisdoms and borrowed wisdoms.” Read more...

The best books on The Arabs

Eugene Rogan, Historian