1st Edition

Israel in History The Jewish State in Comparative Perspective

By Derek Penslar Copyright 2007
    290 Pages
    by Routledge

    290 Pages
    by Routledge

    Covering topical issues concerning the nature of the Israeli state, this engaging work presents essays that combine a variety of comparative schemes, both internal to Jewish civilization and extending throughout the world, such as:

    • modern Jewish society, politics and culture
    • historical consciousness in the twentieth century
    • colonialism, anti-colonialism and postcolonial state-building.

    With its open-ended, comparative approach, Israel in History provides a useful means of correcting the biases found in so much scholarship on Israel, be it sympathetic or hostile. This book will appeal to scholars and students with research interests in many fields, including Israeli Studies, Middle East Studies, and Jewish Studies.

    Introduction  Part 1: Writing Israeli History  1. Israel’s 'New History': From Innovation to Revisionism  2. Beyond Revisionism: Current Directions in Israeli Historiography  3. Historians, Herzl and the Palestinian Arabs: Myth and Counter-Myth  Part 2: Continuity and Rupture  4. Is Israel a Jewish State?  5. Is Israel a Colonial State?  6. Antisemites on Zionism: From Indifference to Obsession  Part 3: Zionism as a Technology  7. Zionism as a Form of Jewish Social Policy  8. Technical Expertise and the Construction of the State of Israel  Part 4: From Jewish to Israeli Culture  9. Transmitting Jewish Culture: Radio in Israel  10. The Continuity of Subversion: Hebrew Satire in Mandate Palestine

    Biography

    Derek Penslar

    'Covering topical issues concerning the nature of the Israeli state, this engaging work contains a collection of essays that provide a comparative historical analysis of Israel's history.' - The MiddleEast

    'Israel in History provides a useful means of correcting the biases found in so much scholarship on Israel, be it sympathetic or hostile.' - The MiddleEast