THE ISRAELIS: Founders and Sons

by Amos Elon ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 31, 1971

The cliche of the Israeli generation gap gains color and a certain complexity in what is otherwise a slapdash, often shallow book by a prominent Israeli journalist known here for his Journey Through a Haunted Land (1967). Within a formal contrast between ""Founders"" and ""Sons,"" Elon covers generations of founders: the early Zionists' concern with social ideals rather than nation-statehood, the shtetl origins of the Eastern European social-democratic pioneers, and the settlers' blindness to potential problems and solutions vis-a-vis the Arabs. Generational strata and prime issues tend to remain jumbled: with respect to the elders, Elon is vague and cursory about the child-raising practices of' ""the first generation"" and downright evasive about the British policies which conditioned the Zionists' political options. The ""Sons"" include both middle-aged army chiefs and the many pacific Israeli youths. Contemporary Israel is described in scrapbook terms of the extinction of traditional Jewish humor, the advantages and ethnocentric disadvantages of national smallness, the casually mentioned proliferation of urban decay. Individualism is contrasted with collectivism, anti-authoritarian spirit with the paternalism of the aging Establishment. About the latterday integration of the post-World War II immigrants they called ""human dust"" we learn little, and the ""Oriental"" Jews rate a couple of sentences. By the standards of most popular literature on Israel, Elon is, however, broad-minded and realistic about the Arab question. Compared with, e.g., the systematic sociological overview in Eisenstadt's Israeli Society (1968), it's a fluffy book; but its transcendence of sheer spartan stereotypes will render mild stimulation to its broad anticipated audience.

Pub Date: May 31, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION