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Enemies and Neighbors
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
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interesting and eyeopening
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Wall and the Gate
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 16
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The defense of human rights is often marked by ethical dilemmas, which are especially acute in Israel, where lawyers have for decades sought redress for the abuse of Palestinian rights in the country's High Court - that is, in the court of the abuser. In The Wall and the Gate, Michael Sfard chronicles this struggle - a story that has never before been fully told - and in the process engages the core principles of human rights legal ethics.
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A Peace to End All Peace
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Still A Great Book On The Topic
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Golda Meir was a world figure unlike any other. Born in tsarist Russia in 1898, she immigrated to America in 1906 and grew up in Milwaukee, where from her earliest years she displayed the political consciousness and organizational skills that would eventually catapult her into the inner circles of Israel's founding generation. Moving to mandatory Palestine in 1921 with her husband, the passionate socialist joined a kibbutz but soon left and was hired at a public works office by the man who would become the great love of her life.
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1 out of 5 stars
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The persistent mispronunciations of Hebrew and Yiddish words ruined this performance
- By Yaakov Har-Oz, Adv. on 12-30-18
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The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
- By: Ilan Pappe
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61
Renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappe's groundbreaking book revisits the formation of the State of Israel. Between 1947 and 1949, over 400 Palestinian villages were deliberately destroyed, civilians were massacred, and around a million men, women, and children were expelled from their homes at gunpoint. Denied for almost six decades, had it happened today it could only have been called "ethnic cleansing."
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Important history, very poor voice performance
- By David H. on 03-23-19
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Arabs
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- By: Tim Mackintosh-Smith
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 25 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 38
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 34
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 34
This kaleidoscopic book covers almost 3,000 years of Arab history and shines a light on the footloose Arab peoples and tribes who conquered lands and disseminated their language and culture over vast distances. Tracing this process to the origins of the Arabic language, rather than the advent of Islam, Tim Mackintosh-Smith begins his narrative more than a thousand years before Muhammad and focuses on how Arabic, both spoken and written, has functioned as a vital source of shared cultural identity over the millennia.
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5 out of 5 stars
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interesting and eyeopening
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Israel
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 542
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 480
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 474
Israel is a tiny state, and yet it has captured the world's attention, aroused its imagination, and, lately, been the object of its opprobrium. Why does such a small country speak to so many global concerns? More pressingly: Why does Israel make the decisions it does? And what lies in its future? We cannot answer these questions until we understand Israel's people and the questions and conflicts, the hopes and desires, that have animated their conversations and actions.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great read; shows history, current story & nuance
- By Wolfman on 11-13-17
-
The Wall and the Gate
- Israel, Palestine, and the Legal Battle for Human Rights
- By: Michael Sfard
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 21 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 16
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 16
The defense of human rights is often marked by ethical dilemmas, which are especially acute in Israel, where lawyers have for decades sought redress for the abuse of Palestinian rights in the country's High Court - that is, in the court of the abuser. In The Wall and the Gate, Michael Sfard chronicles this struggle - a story that has never before been fully told - and in the process engages the core principles of human rights legal ethics.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
A Must Read
- By Justin Graves on 05-06-19
-
A Peace to End All Peace
- The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East
- By: David Fromkin
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 23 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 99
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 88
The Middle East has long been a region of rival religions, ideologies, nationalisms, and ambitions. All of these conflicts are rooted in the region's political inheritance: the arrangements, unities, and divisions imposed by the Allies after the First World War. Author David Fromkin reveals how and why the Allies drew lines on an empty map that remade the geography and politics of the Middle East. Focusing on the formative years of 1914 to 1922, when all seemed possible, he delivers in this sweeping and magisterial book the definitive account of this defining time.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Still A Great Book On The Topic
- By IRP on 02-03-19
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Lioness
- Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel
- By: Francine Klagsbrun
- Narrated by: Jo Anna Perrin
- Length: 32 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Story5 out of 5 stars 38
Golda Meir was a world figure unlike any other. Born in tsarist Russia in 1898, she immigrated to America in 1906 and grew up in Milwaukee, where from her earliest years she displayed the political consciousness and organizational skills that would eventually catapult her into the inner circles of Israel's founding generation. Moving to mandatory Palestine in 1921 with her husband, the passionate socialist joined a kibbutz but soon left and was hired at a public works office by the man who would become the great love of her life.
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1 out of 5 stars
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The persistent mispronunciations of Hebrew and Yiddish words ruined this performance
- By Yaakov Har-Oz, Adv. on 12-30-18
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Six Days of War
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- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,682
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,187
In Israel and the West, it is called the Six Day War. In the Arab world, it is known as the June War or, simply, as "the Setback". Never has a conflict so short, unforeseen, and largely unwanted by both sides so transformed the world. The Yom Kippur War, the war in Lebanon, the Camp David accords, the controversy over Jerusalem and Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the intifada, and the rise of Palestinian terror are all part of the outcome of those six days.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Really 2 Books in One . . .
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The Case for Israel
- By: Alan M. Dershowitz
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 158
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 146
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 143
Widely respected as a civil libertarian, legal educator, and defense attorney extraordinaire, Alan M. Dershowitz has also been a passionate though not uncritical supporter of Israel. In this audiobook, he presents an ardent defense of Israel's rights, supported by indisputable evidence. Dershowitz takes a close look at what Israel's accusers and detractors are saying about this war-torn country. He accuses those who attack Israel of international bigotry and backs up his argument with hard facts.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The best book on clarifying the facts and eliminating ignorance.
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Not since Thomas L. Friedman's groundbreaking From Beirut to Jerusalem has a book captured the essence and the beating heart of the Middle East as keenly and dynamically as My Promised Land. Facing unprecedented internal and external pressures, Israel today is at a moment of existential crisis. Ari Shavit draws on interviews, historical documents, private diaries, and letters, as well as his own family's story, illuminating the pivotal moments of the Zionist century to tell a riveting narrative that is larger than the sum of its parts.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Too important to be ruined by its narration!
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Sontag
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 8
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7
No writer is as emblematic of the American 20th century as Susan Sontag. Mythologized and misunderstood, lauded and loathed, a girl from the suburbs who became a proud symbol of cosmopolitanism, Sontag left a legacy of writing on art and politics, feminism and homosexuality, celebrity and style, medicine and drugs, radicalism and Fascism and Freudianism and Communism and Americanism, that forms an indispensable key to modern culture.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Regarding the boundaries of others
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Assad or We Burn the Country
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 46
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Story5 out of 5 stars 39
In spring 2011, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to his friend and army commander, Manaf Tlass, for advice about how to respond to Arab Spring-inspired protests. Tlass pushed for conciliation but Assad decided to crush the uprising - an act which would catapult the country into an eight-year long war, killing almost half a million and fueling terrorism and a global refugee crisis. Assad or We Burn the Country examines Syria's tragedy through the generational saga of the Assad and Tlass families, once deeply intertwined and now estranged....
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How can this happen
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Spies of No Country
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 65
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
The four spies at the center of this story were part of a ragtag unit known as the Arab Section, conceived during World War II by British spies and Jewish militia leaders in Palestine. Intended to gather intelligence and carry out sabotage and assassinations, the unit consisted of Jews who were native to the Arab world and could thus easily assume Arab identities. In 1948, with Israel's existence in the balance during the War of Independence, our spies went undercover in Beirut, where they spent the next two years operating out of a kiosk....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Absolutely brilliant
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The Biggest Prison on Earth
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- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Published on the 15th anniversary of the Six-Day War that culminated in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Pappe offers a comprehensive exploration of one of the world's most prolonged and tragic conflicts. Using recently declassified archival material, Pappe analyses the motivations and strategies of the generals and politicians-and the decision-making process itself - that laid the foundation of the occupation. Pappe paints a picture of what is to all intents and purposes the world's largest "open prison".
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 78
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
This history of modern Iran is not a survey in the conventional sense but an ambitious exploration of the story of a nation. It offers a revealing look at how events, people, and institutions are shaped by currents that sometimes reach back hundreds of years. The book covers the complex history of the diverse societies and economies of Iran against the background of dynastic changes, revolutions, civil wars, foreign occupation, and the rise of the Islamic Republic.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 8
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Story5 out of 5 stars 8
Alan Dershowitz has spent years advocating for his "most challenging client" - the state of Israel - both publicly and in private meetings with high-level international figures, including every US president and Israeli leader of the past 40 years. Replete with personal insights and unreported details, Defending Israel offers a comprehensive history of modern Israel from the perspective of one of the country's most important supporters. Listeners are given a rare front-row seat to the high-profile controversies and debates that Dershowitz was involved in over the years.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent!
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Bibi
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 30
Benjamin Netanyahu is embroiled in numerous scandals, all of his own making, and may soon be ousted from the office he has held longer than any prior Israeli prime minister outside of David Ben Gurion. But Bibi, as he is known by friend and foe alike, is no stranger to controversy. For many in Israel and elsewhere, he is an embarrassment, a threat to democracy, even a precursor to Donald Trump. He nevertheless continues to dominate Israeli public life - and he may yet survive his current crises, the most challenging of his career. How can we explain Netanyahu's rise, his hold on Israeli politics, and his outsized role on the world's stage?
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5 out of 5 stars
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good read very informative but
- By Paul on 04-25-19
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Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor
- By: Yossi Klein Halevi
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- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 96
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
Attempting to break the agonizing impasse between Israelis and Palestinians, the Israeli commentator and award-winning author of Like Dreamers directly addresses his Palestinian neighbors in this taut and provocative book, empathizing with Palestinian suffering and longing for reconciliation as he explores how the conflict looks through Israeli eyes.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Israel 101 - but for Jews
- By GoingGoingGone... on 06-13-18
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Rise and Kill First
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- By: Ronen Bergman
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 25 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,370
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,232
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,230
The Talmud says: “If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.” This instinct to take every measure, even the most aggressive, to defend the Jewish people is hardwired into Israel’s DNA. From the very beginning of its statehood in 1948, protecting the nation from harm has been the responsibility of its intelligence community and armed services, and there is one weapon in their vast arsenal that they have relied upon to thwart the most serious threats: Targeted assassinations have been used countless times, on enemies large and small....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Eye Opening
- By Ari Safari on 02-09-18
Publisher's Summary
In Enemies and Neighbors, Ian Black, who has spent over three decades covering events in the Middle East and is currently a fellow at the London School of Economics, offers a major new history of the Arab-Zionist conflict from 1917 to today. Laying the historical groundwork in the final decades of the Ottoman Era, when the first Zionist settlers arrived in the Holy Land, Black draws on a wide range of sources - from declassified documents to oral histories to his own vivid on-the-ground reporting - to recreate the major milestones in the most polarizing conflict of the modern age from both sides.
In the third year of World War I, the seed was planted for an inevitable clash: Jerusalem Governor Izzat Pasha surrendered to British troops and Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued a fateful document sympathizing with the establishment of "a national home for the Jewish people". The chronicle takes us through the Arab rebellion of the 1930s; the long shadow of the Nazi Holocaust; the war of 1948 - culminating in Israel's independence and the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe); the "cursed victory" of the Six-Day War of 1967 and the Palestinian re-awakening; the first and second Intifadas; the Oslo Accords; and other failed peace negotiations and continued violence up to 2017.
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Overall
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- Chase J.
- 01-29-19
Informative but Dry
The author seems neutral and unbiased on a very polarizing subject. Lots of information to absorb on a decades long conflict
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- willow33
- 07-09-18
History Overwhelmed by Details
I found this not a good book to listen to. It's very long (20 hours) and, for me, main events and important points got lost in the excruciating detailing of events. The narrator, whose voice I found wearing, didn't help. I may buy it as a reference book, but in the end, the history overall is sadly rather simple.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Issac Singer
- 05-15-19
An Unabashed Travesty
I have read some thirty books on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Nearly all of them take sides in terms of style and selection of facts. I accept that as it is inevitable when reading any history, yet I read them anyway to make sure I understand both perspectives. This book (which I forced myself to complete,) stands out as the most distorted and misleading so far. How an author and publisher could produce a history of this terrible conflict covering a century and virtually excise the role of radical Islamic ideology is an affront to the discipline of history. I will offer two examples that illustrate the point; The meeting between Al Husaini and Hitler is reduced to a single sentence. Never mind they conspired to commit genocide. The bombing of the King David hotel brazenly omits the warnings to evacuate that were ignored. If you are eager to thoroughly distort your understanding of this conflict, by all means, listen to this book. But if you do, I recommend reading Alan Dershowitz's "the case for Israel" and "the case against Israel's enemies". Together, they are shorter than this travesty and offer facts before propaganda. It would go a long way in further cultivating your Intellectual integrity.
0 of 4 people found this review helpful