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Rating: 
Summary: Good, very readable history
Review: Authors Lapierre and Collins have written a wonderful account of the establishment of the State of Israel. They have talked to people on all sides of the problem (there were more than just two sides) and, although not impartial, the end result is as gripping as it is valid. I have said that the authors have not reached an impartial result, and by this I mean that they tilt towards the Israeli side. I do, too, to be honest. But Lapierre and Collins show a lot of professionalism and at least seek balance. I recommend this title to anyone interested in the Middle East conflict, together with Dan Kurzman's "Genesis 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War."
Rating:
Summary: An unbiased telling of the establishment of Israel.
Review: I tend towards books in the historical novel genre, and count among my favorite authors Herman Wouk and Leon Uris. "O Jerusalem!" was recommended to me by someone familiar with my interest in the history of Israel, and I was hesitant to read it at first, thinking that I didn't want to slog through some dry account of such a worthwhile topic.Well, "dry" cannot be applied to any aspect of this book. Considering all of the college history books I've read, I think I can truly say that this is the best "true" historical telling of a topic that I've read...yet. The authors, in true journalistic form, did their research, and brought in those "human interest" aspects I so love in the historical novels. Their treatment of both the Arabs and the Jews is about as unbiased as one can be--I didn't see any blatant pandering to either side-- and felt that any (potentially) incindiary remarks were based wholly on historical track record (e.g., Arabs don't have a history--in Palestine--of cultivating the land, and this neglect is mentioned a few times). I recommend this book to anyone wishing for an in-depth (but not too technically deep!) look into the partition vote, the siege of Jerusalem, and the establishment of the State of Israel. ( As an aside: I'm not too interested in politics, but the political wrangling inherent in the entire partition process is quite fascinating. It goes to show that 'goodwill gestures' have about a million moving parts--not necessarily made out of love!).
Rating: 
Summary: Biased and full of myths
Review: The authors portray the bloodthirsty Arab invaders as noble fighters and devote a disproportional amount of writing to the alleged massacre at Deir Yassin. They make the libelous claim that Jews raped Arab women, looted, mutilated, and executed civilians. Even the Arabs themselves admitted that the "massacre" didn't take place and that Arab propaganda made up the atrocity and rape stories in order to whip up the Arabs into a murderous anti-Jewish frenzy.
Stay away from this biased and mythological account. It is anti-Israeli fiction, not a serious historic account.
Rating: 
Summary: Good account for beginners
Review: This book documents the Jewish struggle to create the tiny state of Israel and the struggle of the Arabs to crush it It is a good and fairly objective account or beginners in the study of the Middle East conflict and deals humanely with the personal stories of people on both the Arab and Jewish sides-both leaders and ordinary people Unfortunately the Revisionist freedom fighters -Irgun and Lehi -do not get fair treatment and are unjustly maligned in the book as the authors are overwhelingly biased in favour the Labour Zionists and their millitary wing -the Hagannah As a result the account of what happened at Deir Yassin is completely inaccurate
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