Rating: 
Summary: Completly Israeli Biased Book
Review: It is very very sad the well-known historian like Mr. Gilbert produces such a poor book in quality. This book is completely one biased toward the Israeli & Zionist Media. He did not even attempt to verify the histroy he is telling with either Arab or even Israeli Publications. The Biography of the book does not even have a mention of Walid Khalid's great work in "All That Remains" or even renowned Israeli historian Benny Morris. For example, he mentions how the Palestinians left Haifa while the Jewish civilian authority attempted to keep them their. He did not even mention that the Haganah was in conflict with the local civilian authority, & was determined to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population from the town. See for your self in "The birth of the Palestinian refugee problem, 1947 -1949" by Benny Morris pages 41-45. You will find better book that fairly cares about history from a Zionist.
Rating: 
Summary: Easily Read Survey, But Nefariously Biased
Review: Martin Gilbert produces a well-written account of Israel's history. However, he gives the reader the impression that he covers all the facts and perspectives, when in reality he does no such thing and writes a biased, pro-Israeli, pro-Jewish history of Israel. Gilbert relies too heavily on the memoirs of important Jewish historical figures, thus skewing his history. He also fails to mention a number of important events such as the Kfar Kassem massacre and the 1971 peace overture by Egypt and Jordan. By ignoring these events and focusing on the barbarity of certain arab governments, Gilbert turns what could have been a comprehensive, honest telling of Israel's history into another piece of propoganda.
Rating: 
Summary: Israel's history from the Zionist Movement to the present.
Review: Meticulous chronology of the history of Israel beginning with Herzl's Zionist Movement of the late 19th century up through the present. Gilbert's admiration for the builders and defenders of modern Israel clearly comes through, yet he also does a credible job of explaining the Arab point of view. Gilbert is not shy about letting his anti-terrorist bias come through: whether he's condemning the Menachem Begin led Revisionists attacks against the British (or even against their own Jewish people) or Arab and Israeli attacks and counter-attacks against non-military targets.My only real criticism is a nitpick. This text is in need of a good editor. There are many awkward and plainly incorrect phrases, as well as outright mistakes. My "favorite" mistake was a reference on page 418 to the American President in 1972, Jimmy Carter. Gee, I was pretty sure Richard Nixon was President in 1972 (and I'll wager that Mr. Gilbert knows that, too)!!! Just to satisfy my curiosity, I even checked the index and found that Carter was cross-referenced to the incident described on page 418. When all is said and done, I highly recommend this book to readers who want a well researched, single volume history of the state of Israel.
Rating: 
Summary: VERY READABLE
Review: MR. GILBERTS BOOK IS VERY WELL WRITTEN AND VERY READABLE. IT IS A LOGICALLY CONSTRUCTED CHRONOLOGY OF THE HISTORY FROM THE RISE OF ZIONISM TO THE PEACE TALKS. MR. GILBERT IS NOT AN ELABORATE WRITER, NOR DOES HE BOG DOWN HIS WRITTING WITH OVER SIMPLIFIED CONCLUSIONS EVERY OTHER PARAGRAPH. IT IS A VERY STRAIGHTFORWARD METHOD OF CONVEYING HIS SPECIFIC HISTORICAL ANALYSIS, WHICH, FOR MANY, MAKES IT A MUCH MORE RELIABLE SOURCE, AND MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE AS WELL.
Rating:
Summary: Peace Beyond the Pale
Review: The history of modern Israel is a search for security and peace -- an elusive, tragic search at best. Martin Gilbert's history can be viewed as slanted toward Israel, but that would miss his point, which is that Israelis have self-consciously wished for and worked for peaceful and fruitful co-existence with their neighbors and with the Palestinians from the beginning. Certainly, there have been grave misdeeds by Israelis (and Arabs) that have resulted in senseless loss of life. But if we go off on that track we will never see what Gilbert's point really means. What both sides would likely acknowledge is that the idea of peaceful coexistence has been more seriously entertained by Israelis than by Arabs -- Palestinian and otherwise. If this book is one-sided then it is so because because Gilbert has revealed this critical asymmetry in a way that has not been made clear before. The book is overflowing with details, anecdotes, portraits and asides that lend it an splendid depth. Yet the author never indulges himself in the sort of speculative forays that might confer color to his work at the expense of careful historical analysis. As a result, there is a critical neutrality toward the facts, with a minimum of bias, emotion or polemic. Perhaps the most emotional part of the book surrounds the events leading up to the assassination of Rabin, a masterful, moving account the whole world should read. Gilbert does not provide an argument for the Labor party or a brief against the Palestinians. Instead, he draws out the tragic dimension of a lost opportunity for peace in a part of the world where peace seems always beyond the pale. In the end, this is a hopeful, though sober and cautious work, and certainly not a book that favors one or the other side. It is a book that should be read by both sides, not with the aim of quibbling about who is represented more favorably, but to see how fragile is the chance for peace and how a knowledge of this brief history of Israel can aid in the efforts to bring about stability and justice for all in this long-suffering part of the world.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent history of Israel
Review: This is a very readable and informative history of Israel through 1997, and it includes some excellent maps. It does have a point of view, of course, as Gilbert relies heavily on British and liberal Jewish sources. But it does not omit any major elements of the history of the region. Gilbert uses his sources primarily to obtain facts, not opinions.
The book begins with the start of modern Zionism, with the first settlements starting in 1878. But we quickly get through World War One and into the British Mandate period.
Although Gilbert is British, he does not hesitate to describe the infamous British White Paper of 1939, which caused a Jewish revolt that led to the establishment of Israel. Nor does he avoid discussing the ships that tried to run the British blockade in World War Two. And he admits that after the war, in spite of Labour Party promises to make the Mandate a Jewish state, the Labour government instead did the opposite, and became obsessed with the idea of preventing Jews from getting into the Levant.
There is a very good description of the Arab-Israeli war of 1948. And a thorough history of Israel from then on. We see Israel grow as a nation. We see wars in which Israeli succeeds on the battlefield only to lose diplomatically. And Gilbert shows exactly what these diplomatic losses mean. They do not mean merely the loss of a few homes or land or money. They mean more war. Each diplomatic loss hurts because it gets the Arabs to attack them once again. And we see how Israeli self-restraint coupled with international demands on Israel for even more restraint generally wind up causing more violence, not less. Gilbert is to be congratulated for showing how this has occurred.
The only weak points of the book are the most recent four years. These deal with the Oslo "peace process." Gilbert, of course, wrote the book before he knew how events would pan out. And he wound up guessing wrong. That caused him to lack perspective on the significance of Arab insincerity at Oslo, or the significance of the assassination of Rabin. For example, when Israel opened a door to a tunnel in the Muslim quarter of the Old City in 1996, Gilbert quite properly puts the actual act in perspective. All it did was improve things for tourists, giving Muslim shopkeepers a benefit. But there were Arab riots. Here, Gilbert, with the perspective we have years later, probably would have seen these riots as provoked only by Arabs. But in this book, he's too close to the situation, and looks for Israeli errors.
This book has few obvious errors. Given how awful some of the more biased histories of Israel can be, this one is a very good place to start.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: Why is it that any history of Israel which does not conclude that Zionism is a crime against human nature is "biased". Even many supporters of Israel regard works that look favorably on the Jewish state as somehow "biased." The reality is that any fair neutral analysis will show Israel in a favorable light and its enemies unfavorably. Martin Gilbert's extensive history is such a book. It is not necessary to re-create the myths of Zionism and to whitewash bad acts of the Israelis in order to conclude that Israel is a just country and one that Americans should support. Gilbert makes no attempt to persuade the reader in this regard. Instead he comprehensively (and sometimes pedantically) lays out the facts and events of history. The book is not biased at all. Gilbert is not gifted at prosaic writing as was the man for whom he is official biographer, Winston Churchill. If you want to read a British historian whose prose resembles Churchill, the author to read is Paul Johnson. But Gilbert is a gifted historian and this book is eminently readable and thus serves as an excellent introduction to and reference guide for Israeli history through the late 90's. Of course recent events beg for a second edition. We will see.
Rating:
Summary: A Sturdy Comprehensive History of Modern Israel
Review: Why is it that any history of Israel which does not conclude that Zionism is a crime against human nature is "biased". Even many supporters of Israel regard works that look favorably on the Jewish state as somehow "biased." The reality is that any fair neutral analysis will show Israel in a favorable light and its enemies unfavorably. Martin Gilbert's extensive history is such a book. It is not necessary to re-create the myths of Zionism and to whitewash bad acts of the Israelis in order to conclude that Israel is a just country and one that Americans should support. Gilbert makes no attempt to persuade the reader in this regard. Instead he comprehensively (and sometimes pedantically) lays out the facts and events of history. The book is not biased at all. Gilbert is not gifted at prosaic writing as was the man for whom he is official biographer, Winston Churchill. If you want to read a British historian whose prose resembles Churchill, the author to read is Paul Johnson. But Gilbert is a gifted historian and this book is eminently readable and thus serves as an excellent introduction to and reference guide for Israeli history through the late 90's. Of course recent events beg for a second edition. We will see.
Rating:
Summary: The sory of a dream that became a state.
Review: With great detail Martin Gilbert details the foundation and continued existience of the state of Isreal. Going right back to the founder of modern day zionism Theodore Herzel, he traces almost every political social and military event up to the present day. Like the history of any period or place it is important not to base definitive conclusions on one text, the same holds true in this case. However I did enjoy the political stuff in this book and in particular the role of the military in influencing decisions at Govt Level. If you want to know why the Isrealies are the what they are and how they came to be that way this is your starting point.
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