- The Pentatuech: Trumath Tzvi. Hirsch, Samson Raphael. Judaica
Press, 1977. 1082 pages.
This new English rendering of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirschs brilliant German translation
and commentary on the Torah is the perfect introduction to Hirsch. Trumath Tzvi
features a comprehensive selection of the commentary most representative of Hirschs
philosophy and approach to the Torah. It contains all the Haftaroth and the Five
Megilloth, translated by Rabbi A. J. Rosenberg. Each Haftorah includes a concise
explanation of its connection to the weekly portion. (Amazon.com)
- The Jewish State. Herzl, Theodor. Dover Books, 1988. 124 pages.
Written in 1896 by the founder of modern Zionism. This short tome clearly and forcefully
advocates the creation of a Jewish homeland. The book was a watershed event in Jewish
history of the last 200 years.
- A History of the Jews. Johnson, Paul M. Harper Perennial, 1987.
656 pages.
A national bestseller, this brilliant 4000 year survey covers not only Jewish history
but the impact of Jewish genius and imagination on the world. (Amazon.com)
- The Siege: The Saga of Israel and Zionism. O’Brien, Conor Cruise.
Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1986. 798 pages.
O'Brien, a scholar, former diplomat, and Irish politician, has written a highly
readable book for nonspecialists interested in the history of Israel and Zionism
which clearly shows the roots of the Arab world’s war against Jews.
- From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over
Palestine. Joan Peters. Harper & Row, 1984. 601 pages.
This monumental and fascinating book, the product of seven years of original research,
will forever change the terms of the debate about the conflicting claims of the
Arabs and the Jews in the Middle East. (Amazon.com)
- Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel
and the War on Terror. Darwish, Nonie. Sentinel, 2006. 272 pages.
In this fascinating book, [Darwish} speaks out against the dark side of her native
culture—women abused by Islamic traditions; the poor and uneducated mistreated by
the elites; bribery and corruption as a way of life. Her former friends and neighbors
blamed all the their troubles on Jews and Americans, but Darwish rejects their bigotry
and calls for the Arab world to make peace with the West. The only hope for the
future, she writes, is for America to continue waging its War on Terror, seeding
the Middle East with the values of democracy, respect for women, and tolerance for
all religions. (Amazon.com)
- The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future
of the Holy City. Gold, Dore Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2007. 384 pages.
Radical Islam has long desired to seize Jerusalem and cut it off to Christian and
Jewish believers. In his revealing new book, The Fight for Jerusalem, bestselling
author and former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold explains why
the battle for Jerusalem is intensifying today. Gold shows why only Israel can preserve
its holy places for Christians, Jews, and even Muslims, and why uncovering Jerusalem's
past-and the truth of biblical history-can be the key to saving its future. (Amazon.com)
- Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror. Goldberg, Jeffrey.
Vintage Books, 2006. 336 pages.
During the first Palestinian uprising in 1990, Jeffrey Goldberg – an American Jew
– served as a guard at the largest prison camp in Israel. One of his prisoners was
Rafiq, a rising leader in the PLO. Overcoming their fears and prejudices, the two
men began a dialogue that, over more than a decade, grew into a remarkable friendship.
(Amazon.com)
- Palestinians: The Making of a People. Kimmerling, Baruch and
Midgal, Joel S. Harvard University Press, 1998. 416 pages.
Sociologist Kimmerling and international relations specialist Migdal use their familiarity
with the Middle East to write a sober historical examination of a people and their
destined role in the world. (Library Journal)
- At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for God with
Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land. Halevi, Yossi Klein. William Morrow,
2001. 336 pages.
In At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden, Yossi Klein Halevi describes his unprecedented
and extraordinary spiritual journey to discover, as a religious Israeli Jew, a common
spiritual language with his Christian and Muslim neighbors in the Holy Land. (Amazon.com)
- Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land. Shipler, David
K. Times Books, 1986. 608 pages.
The Jew, according to the Arab stereotype, is a brutal, violent coward; the Arab,
to the prejudiced Jew, is a primitive creature of animal vengeance and cruel desires.
In this monumental work, revised and more relevant than ever, David Shipler delves
into the origins of the prejudices that have been intensified by war, terrorism,
nationalism, and the failure of the peace process. (Amazon.com)
- Why We Want to Kill You: The Jihadist Mindset and How to Defeat
It. Shoebat, Walid. Top Executive Media, 2007. 276 pages.
“Is the most powerful and authoritative book written on the causes of terrorism.
Walid Shoebat, who is a self-confessed former Islamic-inspired terrorist, reveals
all the reasons why he and him former colleagues commit these acts of violence and
genocide, and “lay in wait” for the next opportunity.” (Shoebat.com)
- Faith, Reason, and the War against Jihadism: A Call to Action.
Weigel, George. Doubleday, 2007. 208 pages.
In this incisive, engaging study of the present danger and what we must do to prevail
against it, George Weigel, one of America’s foremost public intellectuals, does
precisely that: he sees, and describes, things as they are—and as they might be.
Drawing on a quarter century of experience at the intersection of moral argument
and public policy, he describes rigorously and clearly the threat posed by global
jihadism: the religiously inspired ideology which teaches that it is the moral obligation
of all Muslims to employ whatever means are necessary to compel the world’s submission
to Islam. Exploring that ideology’s theological, social, cultural, and political
roots, Weigel points a new direction for both public policy and interreligious dialogue,
one that meets the challenge of jihadism forthrightly while creating the conditions
for a less threatening, more mutually enriching encounter between Islam and the
West. (Amazon.com)
- Real Jews: Secular vs. Ultra-Orthodox: The Struggle for Jewish Identity
in Israel. Efron, Noah J. Basic Books, 2003. 320 pages.
An explosive book that documents in savage detail the war that is tearing Jewish
Israel apart from the inside. (Amazon.com)
- If a Place Can Make You Cry: Dispatches from an Anxious State.
Grodis, Daniel. Crown Publishers, 2002. 304 pages.
If a Place Can Make You Cry is the story of a time in which peace gave way to war,
when childhood innocence evaporated in the heat of hatred, when it became difficult
even to hope. Like countless other Israeli parents, Gordis and his wife struggled
to make their children’s lives manageable and meaningful, despite it all. This is
a book about what their children gained, what they lost, and how, in the midst of
everything, a whole family learned time and again what really matters. (Amazon.com)
- The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul. Hazony, Yoram.
Basic Books, 2001. 464 pages.
A provocative, compelling history and a passionate call to defend Israel's mission
as the state of the Jewish people. (Amazon.com)
- Messianism, Zionism and Jewish Religious Radicalism . Ravitzky,
Aviezer. University of Chicago Press, 1996. 312 pages.
Ravitzky traces the roots of Haredi ideology, which opposes the Zionist enterprise,
and shows how Haredim living in Israel have come to terms with a state to them unholy
and therefore doomed. Ravitzky also examines radical religious movements, including
the Gush Emunim, to whom the State of Israel is a divine agent. He concludes with
a discussion of the recent transformation of Habad Hassidism from conservatism to
radical messianism. This book is indispensable to anyone concerned with the complex
confrontation between Jewish fundamentalism and Israeli political sovereignty, especially
in light of the tragic death of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. (Amazon.com)
