My Promised Land

The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel

By: Ari Shavit

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 20 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller

Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review and The Economist

Winner of the Natan Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award

An authoritative and deeply personal narrative history of the State of Israel, by one of the most influential journalists writing about the Middle East today.

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 Ari Shavit draws on interviews, historical documents, private diaries, and letters, as well as his own family's story, illuminating the pivotal moments of the Zionist century to tell a riveting narrative that is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: both personal and national, both deeply human and of profound historical dimension.

We meet Shavit’s great-grandfather, a British Zionist who, in 1897, visited the Holy Land on a Thomas Cook tour and understood that it was the way of the future for his people; the idealist young farmer who bought land from his Arab neighbor in the 1920s to grow the Jaffa oranges that would create Palestine’s booming economy; the visionary youth group leader who, in the 1940s, transformed Masada from the neglected ruins of an extremist sect into a powerful symbol for Zionism; the Palestinian who as a young man in 1948 was driven with his family from his home during the expulsion from Lydda; the immigrant orphans of Europe’s Holocaust, who took on menial work and focused on raising their children to become the leaders of the new state; the pragmatic engineer who was instrumental in developing Israel’s nuclear program in the 1960s, in the only interview he ever gave; the zealous religious Zionists who started the settler movement in the 1970s; the dot-com entrepreneurs and young men and women behind Tel-Aviv’s booming club scene; and today’s architects of Israel’s foreign policy with Iran, whose nuclear threat looms ominously over the tiny country.

As it examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition, My Promised Land asks difficult but important questions: Why did Israel come to be? How did it come to be? Can Israel survive? Culminating with an analysis of the issues and threats that Israel is currently facing, My Promised Land uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present. The result is a landmark portrait of a small, vibrant country living on the edge, whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today’s global political landscape.

Praise for My Promised Land

“This book will sweep you up in its narrative force and not let go of you until it is done. [Shavit’s] accomplishment is so unlikely, so total...that it makes you believe anything is possible, even, God help us, peace in the Middle East.” (Simon Schama, Financial Times)

“[A] must-read book.” (Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times)

“Important and powerful...the least tendentious book about Israel I have ever read.” (Leon Wieseltier, The New York Times Book Review)

“Spellbinding...Shavit’s prophetic voice carries lessons that all sides need to hear.” (The Economist)

“One of the most nuanced and challenging books written on Israel in years.” (The Wall Street Journal)

©2013 Random House Audio (P)2013 Ari Shavit

Critic reviews

“Shavit's provocative book avoids the clichés typical of some works about the Middle East, and the audio version benefits from Paul Boehmer's superb presentation.” (AudioFile Magazine)

“The most extraordinary book that I’ve read on [Israel] since Amos Elon’s book called The Israelis, and that was published in the late sixties.” (David Remnick)

“Shavit is a master storyteller. [His] retelling of history jars us out of our familiar retrospections, reminds us (and we do need reminders) that there are historical reasons why Israel is a country on the edge.... Required reading for both the left and the right.” (The Jewish Week)

Read the Book Instead

The book itself is excellent. But I had to abandon the Audible version due to the distracting accent the narrator used and switch to a hard copy.

Horrible narration

What made the experience of listening to My Promised Land the most enjoyable?

The book is great, but the narration was painful. As others have said, I found the faux-Israeli accent distracting and a bit insulting. I won't say it ruined the book for me, but it did make it very difficult to get through.

personal but too polemic

This is very well read story with a rather one-sided view of the early Palestine

Godless Book

it is ironic that a book about the Promised Land manages to ignore the "promise." The author boasts about secularism and all but denies God has any part in the story. Just because the author wrote God out his book doesn't mean God doesn't will be written out of the story. Perhaps his mistake is what threatens Israel's future most of all and explains Tisha B'Av.

The author explains Israel's atrocities well enough. This book may as well be a PR treasure chest for anti-Zionnist seeking facts and quotes to make their case against Israel. But it failed to explain what makes Israel a great nation. And in the end of the story the author had little to pin Israel's ultimate security on.

in-depth history thoroughly researched

outstanding historical perspective on the state of Israel albutt from a slightly left position. worth the read no matter what side you're on.

My promised land

Very informative historical work
Needed some editing especially last portions
Was very moving in many sections

A Great and Thoughtful History of Israel

Would you consider the audio edition of My Promised Land to be better than the print version?

I notice that the print version has some low-quality B&W pictures, so that is not a major consideration. The reader is very good.

What was one of the most memorable moments of My Promised Land?

The description of the expulsion of Arabs from Lydda.

Which character – as performed by Paul Boehmer – was your favorite?

Paul Boehmer has a distinct Israeli accent - but he also pronounces French beautifully. He made it feel as if Shavit were talking to you. He says the word :"sexy" in a remarkably sexy way.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No way. There is too much tough stuff. And 20 hours!

Any additional comments?

Anyone who is interested in a balanced perspective on Israel - told by an unabashed old-style Zionist who has a heart and a mind - should listen to this book.

History of the region

I like the audiobooks, but I can read faster so these take much longer for me. It was very educational & laid out very well.

balance history. Trying to understand the culture.

Enjoyed the stories of individuals that shaped and are still shaping Israel. The book was enlightening.

Not history, but very valuable opinion.

Any review on this book should preface it by saying that it is truly an opinion piece, based on history - not a historical document. This took me by surprise at first. There's no doubt that the initial chapters of the book, focusing on early Zionism and the founding of Israel focuses heavily on the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts. It focused so heavily on these issues, I initially felt the book ignored the many other components contributing to Israel's creation and the success of the Jewish state. However, this gradually subsided with later chapters, as the author focused more on why the state is successful economically, culturally, and (less so) politically.

There's no doubt the author would be considered left-centre in political affiliation in Israel, and is staunchly anti-settlement and pro-peace. However, he does present a balanced view in the context of the history of the Jews, Arabs, and Palestinians. There's true insight here from someone who deeply cares about Israel as a Jewish state, and has clearly studied it in detail for years.

While I was expecting history, I got a very interesting, and insightful opinion. I would recommend this book!

Regarding the narration, I also was annoyed by the fake Israeli accent put on by the narrator. Having grown up with Israeli teachers, it was clearly not a truly Israeli accent. However, you do get used to it, and the narrator is otherwise very skilled and interesting.