The Hope

Publisher's Summary

Starting in 1948 and reaching its climax during the Six-Day War of 1967, The Hope begins the story of Israel, a country fighting for its life - outmatched and surrounded by enemies. Zev Barak, Sam Pasternak, Don Kishote, and Benny Luria are all officers in the Israeli Army, caught up in the sweep of history, fighting the desperate desert battles and meeting the larger-than-life personalities that shaped Israel’s fight for independence. The four heroes, and the women they love - three Israelis and one American - weave a compelling tapestry of individual destinies through the grand social history of one nation’s struggle against the odds. 

Their story - and Israel’s - is concluded in The Glory, which picks up from the Six-Day War and carries through to the hope for peace of the Camp David accords. In this two-part epic, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Herman Wouk brings out the passion, romance, and heroism of Israel’s struggle for survival - adding to his oeuvre yet another enthralling saga that’s impossible to put down.  

About the Author: Herman Wouk is one of the most widely-read American authors in the world. His books have been translated into 27 languages, and many of his works have become best sellers. He is perhaps best known for The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, an exhaustively-researched two-part historical series telling the story of World War II from the perspective of two fictional families whose lives were irrevocably changed by the war and the Holocaust. Sixteen years in the making, the epic involved extensive archival research including travel for research to England, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Israel. The Winds of War and War and Remembrance were adapted for television in a 30-hour series that won the 1989 Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries and was, according to ABC, “the most watched television show in history.”  

Born in New York City to Russian-Jewish parents, Wouk graduated from Columbia University and started out working as a comedy writer for Fred Allen’s radio show. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he joined the Navy, serving in eight Pacific invasions and earning several battle stars. During his service in the Pacific he had turned to writing, like Lieutenant Keefer in The Caine Mutiny, for an hour or two before dawn. After his discharge in 1946, Wouk finished his first novel, which became a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, and he soon followed up with the international best sellers The Caine Mutiny, and Marjorie Morningstar.  

Wouk won the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for The Caine Mutiny. He has also been awarded numerous academic honors, including a degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In January 2001, UC San Diego established the Herman Wouk Chair of Modern Jewish Studies, and in 2008 he was given the first Library of Congress Lifetime Achievement Award for the Writing of Fiction.

©1993, 2014 Herman Wouk (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

“One of our best writers today - a modern Charles Dickens - is Herman Wouk… The Hope is not only a good read, but it also causes a good think.” (William Safire, New York Times)

One of my favorite books along with The Gory!

Along with Winds of War and War and Remembrance, I love The Hope and also The Glory. I have listened to my copies on CD quite a few times over the past years and was thrilled when Audible now had it and I could download and listen to it again on my ipod. I'm not thrilled with the narrator. He is very bland. I was very disappointed that they didn't use the Theodore Bikel version. He originally narrated the CD's. His accent gives it so much more depth and feeling. Of course it helps that he was Jewish. The characters seemed so much more real. This narrator just seems to plod along with no feeling and not much difference between the characters. I was very disappointed, but don't let this keep you from listening to the books. The story is just to good and you eventually get use to the narrator.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Good way to tell a great story

I enjoyed the author’s way of telling modern Israel’s history through the stories of both fictional and nonfictional characters.
Given the amount of Hebrew and Yiddish woven throughout the story, I was disappointed with the narrator’s lack of command of those words and phrases. Where was the producer? Are there no experts to consult with? Also, the narrator’s dialectical accents and character differentiation lacked range and accuracy. Despite these shortcomings and frustrations I enjoyed the book and will listen to part 2.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Disappointed

I really enjoyed The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. This book simply never engaged me on any level and the narration was dry and uninvested. It was not for me.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful