One of the most important books of the twentieth century, Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies is an uncompromising defense of liberal democracy and a powerful attack on the intellectual origins of totalitarianism. Popper was born in 1902 to a Viennese family of Jewish origin. He taught in Austria until 1937, when he emigrated to New Zealand in anticipation of the Nazi annexation of Austria the following year, and he settled in England in 1949. Before the annexation, Popper had written mainly about the philosophy of science, but from 1938 until the end of the Second World War he focused his energies on political philosophy, seeking to diagnose the intellectual origins of German and Soviet totalitarianism. The Open Society and Its Enemies was the result. An immediate sensation when it was first published in two volumes in 1945, Popper's monumental achievement has attained legendary status on both the Left and Right and is credited with inspiring anticommunist dissidents during the Cold War. Arguing that the spirit of free, critical inquiry that governs scientific investigation should also apply to politics, Popper traces the roots of an opposite, authoritarian tendency to a tradition represented by Plato, Marx, and Hegel. In a substantial new introduction written for this edition, acclaimed political philosopher Alan Ryan puts Popper's landmark work in biographical, intellectual, and historical context. Also included is a personal essay by eminent art historian E. H. Gombrich, in which he recounts the story of the book's eventual publication despite numerous rejections and wartime deprivations.

Explore the visionary ideas that laid the groundwork for the modern state of Israel with “The Jewish State” by Theodor Herzl. Written at the turn of the 20th century, Herzl’s seminal work is a passionate and prescient call for the establishment of a Jewish homeland. In this groundbreaking manifesto, Herzl outlines the challenges faced by Jews in Europe and proposes a radical solution: the creation of a Jewish state. Drawing on historical precedents and envisioning a future where Jews could live free from persecution, Herzl’s ideas ignited the Zionist movement. Herzl’s writing is both prophetic and pragmatic, anticipating the geopolitical realities that would shape the 20th century. His advocacy for a Jewish state not only sparked a political movement but also paved the way for the eventual establishment of Israel. “The Jewish State” is more than a political treatise; it’s a passionate plea for justice and a testament to Herzl’s dedication to the well-being of his people. Delve into the thoughts of a visionary whose ideas transformed the course of history, and whose influence is felt to this day in the ongoing story of the State of Israel.

In a myth-busting analysis of the world's most intractable conflict, a star of Middle East reporting, "one of the most important writers" in the field ( The New York Times ), argues that only one weapon has yielded progress: force. Scattered over the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea lie the remnants of failed peace proposals, international summits, secret negotiations, UN resolutions, and state-building efforts. The conventional story is that these well-meaning attempts at peacemaking were repeatedly, perhaps terminally, thwarted by violence. Through a rich interweaving of reportage, historical narrative, and powerful analysis, Nathan Thrall presents a startling counter-history. He shows that force—including but not limited to violence—has impelled each side to make its largest concessions, from Palestinian acceptance of a two-state solution to Israeli territorial withdrawals. This simple fact has been neglected by the world powers, which have expended countless resources on initiatives meant to diminish friction between the parties. By quashing any hint of confrontation, promising an imminent negotiated solution, facilitating security cooperation, developing the institutions of a still unborn Palestinian state, and providing bounteous economic and military assistance, the United States and Europe have merely entrenched the conflict by lessening the incentives to end it. Thrall’s important book upends the beliefs steering these failed policies, revealing how the aversion of pain, not the promise of peace, has driven compromise for Israelis and Palestinians alike. Published as Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza reaches its fiftieth anniversary, which is also the centenary of the Balfour Declaration that first promised a Jewish national home in Palestine, The Only Language They Understand advances a bold thesis that shatters ingrained positions of both left and right and provides a new and eye-opening understanding of this most vexed of lands.

"In his final book before his death, Primo Levi returns once more to his time at Auschwitz in a moving meditation on memory, resiliency, and the struggle to comprehend unimaginable tragedy. Drawing on history, philosophy, and his own personal experiences, Levi asks if we have already begun to forget about the Holocaust. His last book before his death, Levi returns to the subject that would define his reputation as a writer and a witness. Levi breaks his book into eight essays, ranging from topics like the unreliability of memory to how violence twists both the victim and the victimizer. He shares how difficult it is for him to tell his experiences with his children and friends. He also debunks the myth that most of the Germans were in the dark about the Final Solution or that Jews never attempted to escape the camps. As the Holocaust recedes into the past and fewer and fewer survivors are left to tell their stories, The Drowned and the Saved is a vital first-person testament. Along with Elie Wiesel and Hannah Arendt, Primo Levi is remembered as one of the most powerful and perceptive writers on the Holocaust and the Jewish experience during World War II. This is an essential book both for students and literary readers. Reading Primo Levi is a lesson in the resiliency of the human spirit."--Publisher description.

Scholar and critic Ruth R. Wisse warns that the failure of liberals to stand up for Jews facing resurgent antisemitism signals the collapse of liberal democratic values. “Ruth R. Wisse is a writer of passion and precision, who has extraordinary polemical powers. All these enviable qualities are beautifully engaged in If I Am Not for Myself, an immensely impressive book on a subject of universal importance.” —Joseph Epstein, author of Never Say You’ve Had a Lucky Life: Especially If You’ve Had a Lucky Life, and recipient of the National Humanities Award “You don’t have to be Jewish to be moved and instructed by this brilliant critique of liberalisms that do not reciprocate the devotions of their adherents. Ruth R. Wisse joins literary grace to analytical rigor in a book that should generate necessary debates for a long time to come.” —Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, founder of the Institute for Religion and Public Life and First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life “The Jews have enemies, as this book urges us to recognize in its passionately felt and powerfully reasoned argument. Ruth R. Wisse mounts a resolve defense of basic Jewish rights and offers a determined challenge to all who would deny them. Her analysis of the psychological and political sources of anti-Jewish hostility is as formidable as it is provocative and deserves the most serious reflection.” —Alvin H. Rosenfeld, professor, and Director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, Indiana University “Wisse’s book is a timely and appropriate response to the ‘Woody Allen syndrome,’ typical of American Jews who charge Israel with betraying their own liberal legacy through its supposed suppression of Palestinian rights. What she charges in return is nothing less than the betrayal of the Jewish heritage itself by well-meaning, assimilated American Jews. Whether or not one agrees with all of her assertions, her book is mandatory reading for those who reject the platitudes of both Left and Right—which coincide in blaming Jews for the aggressions waged against them.” —Ronald Radosh, professor, and coauthor of The Rosenburg File: A Search for the Truth “This is a wonderful book, passionate, wise, and original. Wisse shows how liberalism has led the Jews into the worst betrayal of all—self-betrayal.” —Rael Jean Isaac, coauthor of The Coercive Utopians and Madness in the Streets

"A very personal journey through Jewish history (and Cohen's own), and a passionate defense of Israel's legitimacy. Richard Cohen's book is part reportage, part memoir--an intimate journey through the history of Europe's Jews, culminating in the establishment of Israel. A veteran, syndicated columnist for The Washington Post, Cohen began this journey as a skeptic, wondering in a national column whether the creation of a Jewish State was "a mistake." As he recounts, he delved into his own and Jewish history and fell in love with the story of the Jews and Israel, a twice-promised land--in the Bible by God, and by the world to the remnants of Europe's Jews. This promise, he writes, was made in atonement not just for the Holocaust, but for the callous indifference that preceded World War II and followed it--and that still threatens. Cohen's account is full of stories--from the nineteenth century figures who imagined a Zionist country, including Theodore Herzl, who thought it might resemble Vienna with its cafes and music; to what happened in twentieth century Poland to his own relatives; and to stories of his American boyhood. Cohen describes his relationship with Israel as a sort of marriage: one does not always get along but one is faithful"--

The life and politics of an American Jewish activist who preached radical and violent means to Jewish survival Meir Kahane came of age amid the radical politics of the counterculture, becoming a militant voice of protest against Jewish liberalism. Kahane founded the Jewish Defense League in 1968, declaring that Jews must protect themselves by any means necessary. He immigrated to Israel in 1971, where he founded KACH, an ultranationalist and racist political party. He would die by assassination in 1990. Shaul Magid provides an in-depth look at this controversial figure, showing how the postwar American experience shaped his life and political thought. Magid sheds new light on Kahane’s radical political views, his critique of liberalism, and his use of the “grammar of race” as a tool to promote Jewish pride. He discusses Kahane’s theory of violence as a mechanism to assure Jewish safety, and traces how his Zionism evolved from a fervent support of Israel to a belief that the Zionist project had failed. Magid examines how tradition and classical Jewish texts profoundly influenced Kahane’s thought later in life, and argues that Kahane’s enduring legacy lies not in his Israeli career but in the challenge he posed to the liberalism and assimilatory project of the postwar American Jewish establishment. This incisive book shows how Kahane was a quintessentially American figure, one who adopted the radicalism of the militant Left as a tenet of Jewish survival.

"Part activist memoir, part crash course in Jewish and Palestinian history, Genocide Bad dismantles Zionist propaganda and maps a course towards collective liberation in ten unapologetic essays. Drawing connections between Biblical promises and exploding pagers, medieval dress codes and modern-day apartheid, Kern sketches a sweeping history of imperialism with their characteristic blend of far-ranging research, pop-culture insights, and scathing humor. Kern, a former teacher, journalist, novelist, and book influencer, gained international recognition as an anti-Zionist Jewish activist in the days after October 7th, 2023. At a time when social media was flooded with 'I Stand with Israel' posts, Kern started sharing content encouraging their followers to read Palestinian books, learn Palestinian history, and question Western reporting on Palestine--videos which went viral into tens of millions of views. Despite facing hate messages, death threats, and exile from the Zionist Jewish community, Kern has remained steadfast in their advocacy over the past year. They've posted daily videos on Palestinian, Jewish, and colonial history, and they've raised over $500,000 in direct aid for families in Gaza--all while navigating the challenges of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting a newborn. In Genocide Bad, Kern reflects on the life experiences that led them to anti-Zionist activism, while capturing and expanding upon their online educational content. Kern doesn't flinch when confronting the horrors of genocides past and present, but there is also tremendous hope contained in these pages--hope that springs from examples of courage and resilience in the face of extreme violence, and from the kinds of resistance that might just lead to our collective liberation."--

In this ground-breaking and controversial history of the founding of Israel, originally published in 1987, noted Israeli scholar and peace activist Simha Flapan gives a candid account of one of the most momentous political events of the 20th century. The official story is well known: the Zionists welcomed the partition of Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state; the Arabs rejected partition and launched a war to drive the Jews into the sea; the Palestinians fled Israel despite the efforts of Jewish leaders to get them to stay; after Israel's victory in 1948 its hand was extended in peace, but not a single Arab leader responded. The Birth of Israel exposes these 'historical truths' as propaganda myths that have misguided Israel policy for decades. Drawing on declassified material - from Ben-Gurion's war diaries to the minutes of secret meetings - Flapan reconstructs the real events of that critical time. He demonstrates that the Zionist leadership accepted partition purely as a tactical strategy, that their intention was always to establish a homogenous Jewish homeland in most, if not all, of Palestine. Flapan shows, furthermore, how these objectives shaped Israeli actions: their expulsion of the Palestinians, their exploitation of the 1948 war for territorial gain and their refusal to make any concessions that might have brought about accommodation. Flapan's lucid analysis sheds new light on the figures and events of that time: Ben-Gurion emerges as Menachem Begin's forerunner, the 'just' war of 1948 as the precursor of the debacle in Lebanon. Full of unsettling revelations, The Birth of Israel is a seminal work for understanding the tragic Arab-Israeli stalemate which persists to this day.

An examination of the development of the non-Zionist Jewish socialist Bund in Russia, Labour Zionism, and the American Jewish Labour movement, portraying their often bitter struggles with each other and with non-Jewish socialist movements, especially in Russia.

Delve into the formative years of a pivotal political movement with Nahum Sokolow's "History of Zionism, Vol. 2 of 2: 1600-1918." This meticulously researched historical text explores the evolution of Zionism from its early roots to the end of World War I, providing crucial context for understanding the creation of modern Israel. Spanning centuries of Jewish history, this volume examines the key figures, events, and intellectual currents that shaped Zionist thought and action. Sokolow's work illuminates the complex interplay of European and Middle Eastern politics surrounding the movement, offering insights into the dynamics of colonialism and post-colonialism in Palestine. A vital resource for anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding of Zionism, its origins, and its enduring impact. This book remains an essential contribution to the study of 19th-century political thought, Jewish history, and the ongoing story of Israel. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

"A stunningly original look at the forgotten Jewish political roots of contemporary international human rights, told through the moving stories of five key activists The year 2018 marks the seventieth anniversary of two momentous events in twentieth-century history: the birth of the State of Israel and the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Both remained tied together in the ongoing debates about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet the surprising connections between Zionism and the origins of international human rights are completely unknown today. In this riveting account, James Loeffler explores this controversial history through the stories of five remarkable Jewish founders of international human rights, following them from the prewar shtetls of eastern Europe to the postwar United Nations, a journey that includes the Nuremberg and Eichmann trials, the founding of Amnesty International, and the UN resolution of 1975 labeling Zionism as racism. The result is a book that challenges long-held assumptions about the history of human rights and offers a startlingly new perspective on the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." --

Sobibor traces the life of Berek (later Bernard) Schlesinger from his Polish shtetl childhood to his life during the Holocaust - hiding in the woods, finding refuge with non-Jews, confinement in Sobibor, escape during the uprising, working with partisans' documents. A physician after the war, he follows a relentless, unfulfilled pursuit of retribution for Nazi war criminals through the courts. The Sobibor uprising and its leaders, Alexander Pechersky, are pivotal to the novel. The author, Michael Lev, a product of Soviet Jewish culture, avoids loud rhetoric and heroic pathos, keeping the narration within the limits of realism. A flowing, masterful read.

Fiamma Nirenstein, a Jerusalem-based journalist for the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa, describes, as a frontline observer, the latest developments of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, up to and including the end of the United States' Operation Iraqi Freedom. Betrayal gives readers an inside look at the daily existence of Israelis, who live a nightmare of continuous terrorism and war. Israel's battle to defend its way of life and its right to exist as a nation is the same battle for liberty and civilization that the post-September 11 world is fighting.

Originally published in Hebrew in 2021, Hillel Cohen's Enemies, a Love Story argues that to understand the ongoing conflict in Palestine/Israel we need to examine the interactions among three identity groups: Mizrahim, Ashkenazim, and Arabs. Refusing to treat Jewish society as a monolith, Cohen shows how the ethnic divide between Ashkenazim (Jews of European descent) and Mizrahim (Jews of Middle Eastern origin) can inform and complicate how we view the wider picture of nationalism, religiosity, and oppression in this part of the world. Cohen considers how and why Ashkenazi-Arab and Mizrahi-Arab relations have metamorphosed over time, from the final decades of the Ottoman Empire into the Mandate period, from the Nakba and its aftermath to the Six Day War of 1967, and from the political upheaval of the 1970s to the rise of the right-wing Likud party and the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. The author challenges widespread beliefs that "Mizrahi" is synonymous with rigid nationalism and "Ashkenazi" with progressivism and support for reconciliation, showing how religiosity and socioeconomic status have shaped Israeli attitudes toward Palestinians. Readers interested in Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East should find tremendous value in this timely book on a sensitive issue.

This is the original German edition of Der Judenstaat by Theodor Herzl, republished by Comprehendible Classics. For our new modern English translation, please visit our Author Page. "The Jewish State" (“Der Judenstaat”) by Theodor Herzl is considered one of the most important texts of modern Zionism. Written in 1896, this work significantly influenced the Zionist movement and the establishment of the modern State of Israel. Herzl, a Jewish journalist and political thinker from Austria, argued that the best way to avoid the widespread and rampant antisemitism was to create an independent Jewish state. In The Jewish State, Herzl paints a vivid picture of a homeland for the Jewish people, and shares intricate details about the foundations of this envisioned nation. He also explores the topic of identity and the relentless pursuit of a place to belong. Herzl's vision is a testament to the extraordinary capacity of an individual's ideas to mold the course of history. In fact, he's often called the father of modern political Zionism, and is officially referred to as "the spiritual father of the Jewish State" in the Israeli Declaration of Independence. This is a republication by Comprehendible Classics. We are on a mission to breathe new life into old books that have shaped our society. We believe that the most thought-provoking, inspiring and even controversial texts should be accessible to everyone. As part of our mission we also republish the original work in its original language, for anyone who wishes to compare the two, or simply is on the lookout for the original text. You can find all our titles and stay up to date with new releases by following us on social media @comprehendibleclassics or subscribing to our Amazon author page.

In the wake of the Hamas attack of October 7 and the Israeli response, historian and current affairs commentator Yakov Rabkin brings together his writings that shed light on the violence in Palestine since the creation of the State of Israel. For decades, Yakov Rabkin has drawn attention to the danger Israel has posed to both Palestinians and Jews, both in Israel and in other countries. Far from protecting Jews, the State of Israel has contributed to creating and aggravating a situation that over time has become increasingly intractable. The author describes Palestine as it was on the eve of Zionist colonisation, recalling how Jews initially reacted to the Zionist movement and its goals. He highlights how Zionism, disdaining Jewish tradition, created a "new Hebrew man" steeped in a powerful mix of victimhood and exclusive nationalism and therefore oblivious to the fate of the Palestinians. He reminds us that Jewish identity is traditionally based on a spiritual commitment open to all races, the concept of Israel denoting not so much a geographical region but a community of believers. A return to the Land of Israel achieved by political and military means is antithetic to the Jewish tradition. In fact, Zionism has well-documented Protestant and Anglo-Saxon roots, which explains the massive support Israel enjoys among millions of Evangelical Christians around the world, and, on the other hand, why Jews have played such a prominent role in the pro-Palestinian protests sparked by violence against Gaza. At the same time, it shows how since 1967, there emerged a new national Judaism to provide religious legitimacy to the Zionist state. Avoiding polemics and sensationalism, this book allows the reader to reconsider the nature of the Israel/Palestine tragedy that has spilled over beyond Israel/Palestine. The book is rather short and targets the general reader. It requires no previous expertise in the subject, yet shows deeper and less known aspects of the conflict and, thus, opens perspectives on novel approaches to peace. This book has also been published in French, Japanese and Spanish language editions

Communist opposition to Zionism has a long history which pre-dates both the Russian Revolution and the Balfour Declaration of November 1917. Yet the Communist and Marxist critique of Zionism has always had a curious inconsistency, since it is not applied to all nationalist solutions of social problems. Thus Soviet and Chinese Communists regard their Marxist-Leninist ideology as perfectly compatible with Russian or Chinese nationalism, and the same is true of the 'people's democracies' in Eastern Europe or Asia where nationalism has been a predominant force. Similarly, Arab and Palestinian nationalism have been considered 'progressive' despite their very thin socialist content. Only in the case of Zionism, which historically has been a reaction to the failure of European and Islamic societies to resolve the Jewish question on democratic lines, has a major national movement been judged a priori 'reactionary', illegitimate and ultimately condemned to extinction. Anti-Zionism has become the great bazaar in which Soviet and Chinese Communists, Arab and Third World Marxists, Trotskyists, anarchists and Castroists together with feudal sheikhs, conservative Islamic rulers, and oil companies in the West (plus fascist fringe-groups) can find common ground in their antagonism to the Jewish State. Contemporary anti-Zionism is not merely the anti-Semitism of the left - Israel has even become the alibi for reviving the hoary Nazi myth of 'World Jewry' seeking to control and manipulate the fate of humanity. The essays in this book will give the reader a better understanding of the causes and possible consequences of this sinister trend. Mostly written between the Six-Day War of 1967 and the October War of 1973, they remain timely and important for the light they shed on a development whose implications are only now becoming fully apparent. They analyse the complex and changing factors which have influenced the position of the Communist parties and New Left movements towards the Middle East conflict, the significance of the 'anti-Zionist' campaigns in Russia and Eastern Europe, the dissentions and contradictions in western Communist parties, the relations of Soviet, Chinese and East German Communists to the Arab world, and the attitude of the post-Auschwitz New Left to Israel and the Jewish problem. All these disparate elements must be taken into account if one is to understand Communist and Marxist standpoints towards Israel and the Middle East conflict. Subject categories: Anti-Zionism; Communism; Israel; Politics

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ Liberal Nationalism For Israel: Towards An Israeli National Identity Joseph Agassi Joseph Agassi Gefen Publishing House Ltd, 1999 History; Middle East; Israel; History / Jewish; History / Middle East / Israel; Identity; Israel; Israel and the diaspora; Jews; Jews/ Israel/ Identity; Political Science / General; Political Science / History & Theory; Religion / Judaism / General; Religion / Judaism / History; Religion / Religion, Politics & State; Religion and state; Religion and state/ Israel; Social Science / Sociology of Religion; Zionism

"This seminal text by renowned Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe, discusses one of the most significant periods in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Based on archival material, it presents the reader with a comprehensive and general history of the origins and consequences of the 1948 war. While among Arabs, and especially Palestinians, the events of that year are known as the nakba - the catastrophe, the trauma, the disaster - for Jews, and in particular for Israelis, their victory in the war of 1948 is a veritable miracle. For them, against tremendous odds and through heroic military effort, the Jewish community succeeded in thwarting attempts by the Arab states to destroy it. Pappe shows here that in sharp contrast to the recollections and myths of both sides, the military events of 1948 were not decisive. The victory of the Zionist organization and the fate of the Palestinians was determined by politicians on both sides - in the discussions and decisions of the United Nations in 1947-8 and in the Arab League - long before a shot had been fired. He argues that Israel's failure to take advantage of the genuine opportunity for peace with the Arabs at the UN-sponsored Lausanne Conference in 1949 resulted in the prolonged and tragic conflict between Israel and the Arab states still very much alive today. Complete with a new foreword by the author, the book remains the authority on the subject for a new generation of readers."--