The Land of Hope and Fear

Israel's Battle for Its Inner Soul

By: Isabel Kershner

Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger

Length: 17 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • An urgent, wide-ranging portrait of the divisions among Israelis today, and the external threats to their country, at a critical juncture in its history. • Through moving narratives and on-the-ground reporting, a veteran New York Times correspondent who has spent decades working in Israel reveals what holds the country together.

“A wondrous tale told through the agonizing and uplifting stories of Israel’s many tribes—Jewish and Arab, religious and secular, new immigrants and veterans, soldiers and settlers.”—Martin Indyk, author of Master of the Game, and former U.S. ambassador to Israel

"For anyone trying to understand the reality of Israel today.”—Dennis Ross, former U.S. envoy to the Middle East and the author of Doomed to Succeed

Despite Israel's determined staying power in a hostile environment, its military might, and the innovation it fosters in businesses globally, the country is more divided than ever. The old guard—socialist secular elites and idealists—are a dying breed, and the state’s democratic foundations are being challenged. A dynamic and exuberant country of nine million, Israel is now largely comprised of native-born Hebrew speakers, and yet any permanent sense of security and normalcy is elusive.

In The Land of Hope and Fear, we meet Israelis: Jews and Arabs, religious and secular, Eastern and Western, liberals and zealots—plagued by perennial conflict and existential threats, citizens who remain deeply polarized politically, socially, and ideologically, even as they undergo generational change and redefine what it is to be an Israeli. Who are these people and to what do they aspire?

In moving narratives and with on-the-ground reporting, Isabel Kershner reveals the core of what holds Israel together and the forces that threaten its future through the lens of real people: a son of Zionist pioneers, cynical about what is to come and his people’s status in it; a woman in her nineties whose life in a kibbutz has disintegrated; a brilliant poet caught up in the political maelstrom; an Arab gallery owner archiving a lost Palestinian landscape; and a descendant of the Russian aliyah; representing millions of culturally and religiously different Jews, laying bare the question Who is an Israeli? The Land of Hope and Fear decodes Israel today at its seventy-fifth anniversary, examining the ways in which the country has both exceeded and failed the ideals and expectations of its founders.

©2023 Isabel Kershner (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

*Listed as one of The New York Times Book Review's 100 Notable Books of 2023*

“An absorbing account of a country at war with itself . . . Painstakingly researched, the book is the product of scores of interviews coupled with living on the ground for more than three decades. Kershner knows of what she writes. . . . The Land of Hope and Fear is reminiscence, scorecard and guidebook all in one.”—Lloyd Green, The Guardian

“Through outstanding writing, [Kershner] introduces us to a diverse cast of characters. . . . The book provides tantalizing historical nuggets. . . . Her narrative makes clear that the splits in Israeli society and politics aren’t new, but go back to its earliest days.”—Alan D. Abbey, Hadassah Magazine

“With the sharp eye of an experienced reporter, a profound understanding of Israel, its internal conflicts, weaknesses and strengths, and with a great love for the country and its people, Isabel Kershner went on a fascinating journey into the minds and souls of current Israelis, Jews and Arabs. Seventy-five years after its birth, the Jewish state is still struggling over its identity. The Land of Hope and Fear is a must book for people who wish to understand why and how.”—Nahum Barnea, columnist, Yedioth Ahronoth (Israel)

Interesting anecdotes, terrible reader

The reader’s mispronunciation of almost every Hebrew name or object was incredibly distracting, making it very difficult to identify to whom or what she was referring. After a short time, it was so annoying that I stopped, listening to the book. Why would anybody select a reader, with no familiarity with the language that is central to the book?

The narrator is killing this book for me!

Please Isabel Kershner, get someone else to read this book and republish it! Romy Nordlinger is literally reading every.single.sentence in a sing song same innotation way. It's maddening! This is a book perfect for this moment in history, yet I am on the edge, every time I listen, of returning it. I am just a couple of hours in, The stories and history and so important, the writing is excellent, but the narrator is ruining the book. If I had time to sit down and read it hard copy I would.

Please find a narrator who speaks Hebrew and knows Israel

There are at least tens of thousands of bilingual people who speak Hebrew and English, so I am not sure how this narrator got the job. Her pronunciation is so bad that I often don’t know what she’s saying. I have to think about what she probably means and figure out what she’s trying to say.

The points the author is making are interesting, but the narrator’s pronunciation is so bad that it is distracting to listening to this audiobook. It would be worth redoing.

Very little Hope represented here

I'm traveling to Israel in two weeks and read this book as part of my self education. A full 80-90% of this book focused on conflict: mostly Jew against Jew but also Israel vs the Arab world (mostly Palestine). Ashkenazi vs Mizrahi, ultra orthodox vs everyone else, left vs right, the original settlers vs each new wave of Jewish immigrants, socialists vs capitalists, white Jews vs. black Jews, etc etc. It's incredibly depressing and left me feeling hopeless about humanity in general (If the uniformly persecuted Jewish people cant even overcome differences to love and honor each other, there's no hope for the rest of humanity.)

I truly wish the author spoke more about all the inclusuve policies and technological innovations that have come from Israel and it's amazingly resilient population. She touched on these but too briefly.

Based on the content, the title should be Israel: Land of Conflict and Inability To Get Out of Our Own Way.

I will now look for resources representing Hope as well.