ISRAEL: A Personal History

by David Ben-Gurion ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 1971

This is neither authobiography nor history. It lacks even the pretense of personal reminiscence and revelation which characterizes the former, and it also lacks the facsimile of broad, objective analysis which defines the latter. The book is detached, but in no sense objective. It consists of documents spliced with chronicles of an unexpected dryness, narrowness, and superficiality. At first the reader thinks the documents are inadvertent padding, but they turn out to be the most vital part of the book. For instance, Ben Gurion's correspondence with De Gaulle after the June war is passionate and explicitly eschatological in a way the book avoids. (The book as a whole is more like a memo to God, the communique of a trusted lieutenant whose commander never doubts his basic loyalty, rectitude and intelligence, only his tactical judgment -- but Ben-Gurion reserves his apologiae for Jehovah's ears alone.) Once past the hokiness and inaccuracies of the introduction, a sober computer seems to take over the narrative, which begins with the first Jewish settlements in Palestine in the 1870's. Though in original Zionism statehood was distinctly subordinate, Ben-Gurion adopted it early and this book makes it a prominent telos. For those who see Ben-Gurion as an Arab-hating, expansionist, chauvinist autocrat there is reinforcement. The Arabs are barely mentioned till they bob up in the '30's demanding an elected government, and then again in 1948 to contest the new nation. At least he makes no hypocritical effort to understand the Arab leaders' point of view. Political fights are passed over in the narrative but the long excerpts from Knesset parliamentary debates help reveal Ben-Gurion's concern with keeping down wages and expanding immigration. The book stands at a vast remove -- perhaps deliberately -- from the ""personal history"" of Ben-Gurion's martial counterpart Winston Churchill. The latter's biases are positive and articulate, while Ben-Gurion, proceeding mostly in the regal third person, is subjective by omission. A minimal history instead of the unique source of information and interpretation which it might have been.

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Funk & Wagnalls

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION