Menachem Begin

The Battle for Israel's Soul

De: Daniel Gordis

Narrado por: Walter Dixon

Reviled as a fascist by his great rival Ben-Gurion, venerated by Israel’s underclass, the first Israeli to win the Nobel Peace Prize, a proud Jew but not a conventionally religious one, Menachem Begin was both complex and controversial. Born in Poland in 1913, Begin was a youthful admirer of the Revisionist Zionist Ze’ev Jabotinsky and soon became a leader within Jabotinsky’s Betar movement. A powerful orator and mesmerizing public figure, Begin was imprisoned by the Soviets in 1940, joined the Free Polish Army in 1942, and arrived in Palestine as a Polish soldier shortly thereafter. Joining the underground paramilitary Irgun in 1943, he achieved instant notoriety for the organization’s bombings of British military installations and other violent acts.

Intentionally left out of the new Israeli government, Begin’s right-leaning Herut political party became a fixture of the opposition to the Labor-dominated governments of Ben-Gurion and his successors, until the surprising parliamentary victory of his political coalition in 1977 made him prime minister. Welcoming Egyptian president Anwar Sadat to Israel and cosigning a peace treaty with him on the White House lawn in 1979, Begin accomplished what his predecessors could not. His outreach to Ethiopian Jews and Vietnamese "boat people" was universally admired, and his decision to bomb Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981 is now regarded as an act of courageous foresight. But the disastrous invasion of Lebanon to end the PLO’s shelling of Israel’s northern cities, combined with his declining health and the death of his wife, led Begin to resign in 1983. He spent the next nine years in virtual seclusion, until his death in 1992. Begin was buried not alongside Israel’s prime ministers, but alongside the Irgun comrades who died in the struggle to create the Jewish national home to which he had devoted his life.

Daniel Gordis’ perceptive biography gives us new insight into a remarkable political figure whose influence continues to be felt both within Israel and throughout the world.

©2014 Daniel Gordis (P)2014 Gildan Media LLC

Reseñas de la Crítica

"The story of Menachem Begin is an inspiring story of Israel, and his legacy is one that lives with us still. Daniel Gordis expertly recreates that epic and passionately passes that tradition on to his listeners. Anyone wishing to understand Israel - its past as well as it current affairs - must turn to Gordis’ Begin." (Michael Oren, author of Six Days of War)

Good content, meh performance

I learned lots of interesting details about a story I already thought I knew well.
The reader takes it much too fast (but not so fast that slowing it down is much help. Worse, he has taken no trouble to learn Hebrew pronunciation. His constant mistakes are annoying and make this otherwise enjoyable book a harder listen.

An inspiring and surprising story

I learnt alot about Begin and his mentor Jabatinsky. A surprising and well formulated biography,

Narrator mispronounces almost every Hebrew word

Where does Menachem Begin rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The book's great. Daniel Gordis' writing is, as ever, captivating and illuminating. But I'm returning this audiobook and moving to an eBook to read the rest of the book. I simply can't take any more of the narrator.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Sadly he's unfamiliar with the Hebrew names and words that pepper the book.

The early chapters make frequent references to Menachem Begin's father Ze'ev. The narrator calls him "zay ev" (pronounced as if the first half of the name rhymes with the greeting "Hi").

That was grating enough but the final straw was when, in chapter 4 (at around the 11min mark), he refers to the "Hativka". It should be the "Hatikva". At that point I realised I was more focused on waiting for the next foul-up by the narrator than by the content of the book.

A great book

I was never a Begin fan, but this book shows you what an interesting, insightful, passionate character Begin was. I recommend this book. If you want to learn more about Begin, also check out Yehuda Avner's "The Primer Ministers."

Inspiring story

The story is truly inspiring especially for Jews. It is a shame that the chosen reader is limited in his ability to properly pronounce Hebrew or Yiddish

Great story lousy oration

What made the experience of listening to Menachem Begin the most enjoyable?

The underlying story ofMenachem Begin's comittment to Israel and the Jewish People

How could the performance have been better?

The orator could have taken the time to better prepare himself to correctly pronounce a variety of mispronounced words in Hebrew and Yiddish, it was distracting listening to him slaughter these words.

Amazing!

You can't understand israel if you don't understand Begin. This is a must read for every Jew.

Awesome book!

It was a really good history of Begin’s life. I love learning about the Jewish underground before independence. The author covered the topic thoroughly and with a lot of respect.

Excellent

Absolutely spot on and quite revealing about events and attitudes. The narration is excellent. Highly recommended!

Great book.

Would have much rathered that the narrator would pronounce the Hebrew and Yiddish words properly, but Uther than that- excellent book. very detailed and eye opening. greatly recommended.