“Thoughtful and well-written.”
—The Wall Street Journal “An immensely thoughtful and nuanced biography [by] one of Israel’s important public intellectuals. . . . Beautifully written and insightful, [it] is an important contribution to contemporary scholarship about the political history of the modern Jewish state.”
—National Review “Distinguished academic Gordis distills the essence of Begin’s long, storied, and contentious career [in this] concise and exciting political biography.”
—New York Journal of Books“Gordis writes well about Begin’s personal qualities . . . capturing both his character and his place in Israeli history.”
—Publishers Weekly“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 readers. Anyone wishing to understand Israel—its past as well as it current affairs—must turn to Gordis’s
Begin.”
—Michael Oren, author of
Six Days of War “Whether you adored Begin or reviled him, whether you thought he was the best prime minister Israel ever had or the worst, you will appreciate and learn from Gordis’s fascinating portrait of a memorable man.”
—Deborah Lipstadt, author of
The Eichmann Trial“Daniel Gordis’s new and wonderfully written biography of Menachem Begin makes the case for a fresh look at the Israeli prime minister who made peace with Egypt. The portrait he paints of Begin is that of a man of singular devotion not just to the State of Israel, but also to the Jewish people. His passionate belief in both drove him, and it’s that passion and the intellectual depth behind it that Gordis finds appealing and in need of resurrection in Israel’s political class today. After reading this compelling book, most readers are likely to agree.”
—Dennis Ross, The Washington Institute
“A unique biography of a seminal leader many Jews think they know but don’t really understand. Like the best works of history, Gordis’s intellectual biography of the man who helped restore Jewishness to Israeli identity is of urgent contemporary relevance, as American Jews struggle with the meaning of Jewish people hood in their own lives. Passionately argued, beautifully evoked, this biography will become an indispensible part of the contemporary Jewish bookshelf.”
—Yossi Klein Halevi, author of
Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation “Writing a balanced, eloquent biography of one of the most polarizing figures of our time would seem impossible, but Gordis has done it. This is a riveting recounting of the passionate, meticulous, triumphant, dark, pivotal peacemaker, Menachem Begin.”
—David Wolpe, rabbi, Sinai Temple, and author of
Why Faith Matters “Menachem Begin was a man of great contradictions, and Gordis’s biography captures all of them in a remarkable manner. It deals in a brilliant way with the complex personality and heritage of Israel’s sixth prime minister. Gordis is not only precise, honest, and insightful, he is also a deeply talented and sensitive writer. That’s why his Begin is a man of flesh, blood, mind, and soul, a multi-dimensional historic figure who made a vast contribution to the founding of the Jewish state and to the way it has redefined itself in recent decades.”
—Ari Shavit, author of
My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel