Based on recently declassified documents and more than two hundred interviews, I Am My Brothers Keeper tells the story of the more than one thousand Americans and Canadians, Jews and non-Jews, who fought in Israels War of Independence. This is a story about men like Rudy Augarten (shown on the front cover), who interrupted his studies at Harvard to fly for Israel. This, despite the fact that Augarten had been shot down over occupied France during World War II, and survived sixty-three days behind enemy lines. Its about Chris Magee, a World War II ace and veteran of Pappy Boyingtons Black Sheep Squadron who felt the Jews deserved a homeland. And about American Indian Jesse Slade, who believed that fighting for Israel was the Christian thing to do. And Buzz Beurling, the legendary Falcon of Malta who sought to recapture the glory days of World War II. I Am My Brothers Keeper captures the powerful story of those Jews and Christians who stood up to be counted at a critical time in Jewish history. Only three years after the Holocaust, these volunteers helped establish the State of Israel. This story will forever change your understanding of the relationship between Americans and Israelis.

This history of the foundational war in the Arab-Israeli conflict is groundbreaking, objective, and deeply revisionist. Besides the military account, it also focuses on the war's political dimensions. Historian Morris probes the motives and aims of the protagonists on the basis of newly opened Israeli and Western documentation. The Arab side--where the archives are still closed--is illuminated with the help of intelligence and diplomatic materials. Morris stresses the jihadi character of the two-stage Arab assault on the Jewish community in Palestine. He examines the dialectic between the war's military and political developments and highlights the military impetus in the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem. He looks both at high politics and general staff decision-making and at the nitty-gritty of combat in the battles that resulted in the emergence of the State of Israel and the humiliation of the Arab world--a humiliation that underlies the continued Arab antagonism toward Israel.--Résumé de l'éditeur.

The Arab-Israeli conflict is one of the most intense and intractable international conflicts of modern times. This book is about the historical roots of that conflict. It re-examines the history of 1948, the war in which the newly-born state of Israel defeated the Palestinians and the regular Arab armies of the neighbouring states so decisively. The book includes chapters on all the principal participants, on the reasons for the Palestinian exodus, and on the political and moral consequences of the war. The chapters are written by leading Arab, Israeli and western scholars who draw on primary sources in all relevant languages to offer alternative interpretations and new insights into this defining moment in Middle East history. The result is a major contribution to the literature on the 1948 war. It will command a wide audience from among students and general readers with an interest in the region.

A new account of support for and opposition to Zionist aspirations in Palestine in the United States and Europe from 1945 to 1949.

Renowned historian Tom Segev strips away national myths to present a critical and clear-eyed chronicle of the year immediately following Israel’s foundation. “Required reading for all who want to understand the Arab-Israeli conflict…the best analysis…of the problems of trying to integrate so many people from such diverse cultures into one political body” (The New York Times Book Review). Historian and journalist Tom Segev stirred up controversy in Israel upon the first publication of 1949. It was a landmark book that told a different story of the country’s early years, one that wasn’t taught in schools or shown in popular culture. Rather than painting the idealized picture of the Israel’s founding in 1948, after the wreckage of the Holocaust, Segev reveals gritty underside behind the early years. The new country of Israel faced challenges on all sides. Day-to-day life was severe, marked by austerity and food shortages; Israeli society was fractured between traditional and secular camps; Jewish immigrants from Middle-Eastern countries faced discrimination and second-class treatment; and clashes between settlers and the Arabs would set the tone for relations for the following decades, hardening attitudes and creating a violent cycle of retaliation. Drawing on journal entries, letters, declassified government documents, and more, 1949 is a richly detailed look at the friction between the idealism of the Zionist movement and the cold realities of history. Decades after its publication in the United States, Segev’s groundbreaking book is still required reading for anyone who wants to understand Israel’s past and future.

Netanel Lorch, who fought as an officer in Jerusalem during Israel’s War of Independence and later founded the Israel Defense Forces’ Historical Section, offers a detailed military history of the years 1947-49. The book begins with the tensions of the British Mandate period in Palestine, including the international debates over proposed boundaries for the new Jewish state, and examines the chaos that followed the British evacuation, the invasion of five Arab armies supported by guerrilla fighters inside Israel, the defeat of the Arab armies, and the signing of armistice agreements at Rhodes. It surveys the strength, weaknesses, equipment and manpower of Jewish and Arab forces and describes the strategies and tactics used in operations launched by all sides, together with the results of the battles that led to Israel’s pre-1967 borders. “In splendidly crisp, frugal but always fluent narrative, Col. Netanel Lorch relates how Israel won her life with ‘The Edge of the Sword.’ It is an apt title for this masterly deployment of bare facts, devoid of speculative afterthoughts, almost devoid of comment... I rate this book a splendid job of work, absorbing to a student of war, a fit memorial to heroic events passing comprehension.” — The New York Times “... minute in its detail, meticulous in its completeness, matter of fact in its style... but, professional objectivity notwithstanding, he offers a penetrating insight into the passions and purposes that underlay this struggle.” — Herbert Kupferberg, The New York Herald Tribune “Lorch... was fortunate in holding a position in which he was able to obtain and sift much data not normally available to the public. This he has done admirably... It is a timely, comprehensive book... clearly a must for the bookshelf of everyone who takes an interest in military matters or in the Middle East.” — Edgar O’Ballance, The Spectator, London “... a fascinating work. The book teems with technical details and military terms; it gives blow by blow the story of every campaign, and almost every action.” — Marvin Lowenthal, Jewish Social Studies “Genuine history, admirably written...” — Bernard Fergussen, London Daily Telegraph “[Lorch] writes with a clarity quite unusual in military specialists... superbly written and fascinating.” — The Cape Argus, Capetown “The most detailed and most searching study of this momentous little war which has yet been published. It is also remarkably readable... it teaches quietly and with no brashness, a number of salutary lessons, strategic and tactical, logistic and moral, which every soldier ought to ponder... Lorch’s narrative is as candid as it is well marshalled. He is not sparing in his criticism of Israeli mistakes. He does not sneer and he does not exult.” — Journal of the Royal United Services Institution