Simon Sebag Montefiore
Jerusalem: The Biography 
A Fresh History of the Middle East

Flipping through the book's 600 pages, written in a clear, lively, illustrative style, one can't help but wonder why an Israeli writer didn't write this biography of our capital city first.

Sometimes it seems as if Jerusalem is more popular among people who don't live there. So it's not surprising that the author of "Jerusalem: The Biography – A Fresh History of the Middle East," is a Jewish British historian by the name of Simon Sebag Montefiore.

Sebag Montefiore, 46, carries the family name of the famous philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore, who nearly single-handedly directed the settling of Jews outside the walls of Jerusalem. He also constructed Jerusalem's iconic Montefiore Windmill and established the neighborhood of Yemin Moshe in 1891.While Sebag Montefiore is not a direct descendent of the philanthropist, he said his book was a project based both on his own private contribution to Jerusalem as well as the legacy of his name.

"Jerusalem: The Biography" was published and widely distributed recently in English and is now scheduled for translation in more than 40 languages. A Hebrew translation will be released next year.

Flipping through the book's 600 pages, written in a clear, lively, illustrative style, one can't help but wonder why an Israeli writer didn't write this biography of our capital city first.

But why did Sebag Montefiore call the book a biography? And why did he prefer to write the biography of a city rather than a person? The answer, apparently, is because Jerusalem is not just any city. It is a city that has seen division and war ever since the days of King David.

The fascination with Jerusalem extends far beyond Israel. U.K. viewers this Christmas will be shown a documentary on Jerusalem, created by the BBC and narrated by Sebag Montefiore. That project sent him to Jerusalem once a month for interviews and taping, so much so that I have visited places in Jerusalem that I was told were visited by Sebag Montefiore and his team, as well.

Although we don't know yet what conclusions the political slant of the BBC documentary, it seems that Sebag Montefiore will not recommend that Jerusalem remain undivided under Israeli control. In his book, however, he has kind words for the Israelis, saying that only under Israeli control of Jerusalem, since 1967, has the city seen true freedom of religion.

Jerusalem, he writes in his book, has a strategic value, and not just for our region. "Jerusalem is the command center of the Middle East. It's the battleground of Western secularism versus fundamental Islam. Jerusalem is a "powder keg," as the Jordanian King Abdullah II put it."

Yuri Slezkine
Il secolo ebraico
Neri Pozza

Questo saggio appassionante di Sklezkine, professore di storia russa e direttore dell’istituto di slavistica dell’Università di Berkeley, racconta una nuova storia della cultura ebraica degli ultimi cento anni, dalla nascita di una tribù nomade che diventerà il solo grande popolo sprovvisto di Stato dopo l'avvento del nazionalismo, l'unico a costruire la propria emancipazione in un isolamento frutto di ripetute diaspore, tra il collasso dell'impero russo, le grandi ondate migratorie, l'America di fine Ottocento, le città sovietiche dopo la Rivoluzione, la Palestina della nascita del Sionismo e l'avvento delle grandi ideologie del Novecento: socialismo, nazionalismo, liberalismo. Denso di intuizioni illuminanti e trasgressive, scorrevole nell'esposizione e audace nell'analisi, “Il secolo ebraico” è una delle opere più stimolanti e intellettualmente innovative degli ultimi anni.

Giampaolo Pansa
Carta straccia
Rizzoli

Cari lettori di IC, non stupitevi se dedichiamo una pagina ad un libro che, apparentemente, non c'entra nulla con la nostra ragione sociale. Perchè c'entra e molto. Giampaolo Pansa, da quel grande giornalista che è, ha descritto il mondo del giornalismo italiano non solo grazie alla sua lunga esperienza, ma soprattutto grazie al coraggio e all'onestà che lo contraddisingue. Mai nessuno, in questi anni, ha raccontato così bene quel che accade nelle redazioni dei giornali, nessuno ha mai avuto il coraggio di ritrarre con lucida chiarezza quella casta di santoni che dal dopoguerra ad oggi indirizzano in senso unidirezionale l'opinione pubblica nel nostro paese. Noi che ci battiamo da sempre contro il monopolio della sinistra nella disinformazione sistematica degli avvenimenti mediorientali, la corazzata di RAI 3 in prima fila, diciamo grazie a Giampaolo Pansa per aver raccontato con tanta precisione quella cricca che, praticamente indisturbata, governa la maggior parte dei media. Aggiungiamo, quale tributo all'autore, che CARTA STRACCIA è scritto con una bravura che non ha forse eguali nel giornalismo italiano. Se non l'avete ancora letto, affrettatevi a farlo, il libro di Pansa è la risposta a tutti i cattivi pensieri che ci vengono ogni giorno quando ci imbottiscono di menzogne.

Dore Gold
The fight for Jerusalem
Regnery Publishing

Radical Islam has long desired to seize Jerusalem and cut it off to Christian and Jewish believers. In his revealing book, "The Fight for Jerusalem", bestselling author and former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold explains why the battle for Jerusalem is intensifying today. Gold shows why only Israel can preserve its holy places for Christians, Jews, and even Muslims, and why uncovering Jerusalem's past - and the truth of biblical history - can be the key to saving its future.
Comprehensive and cogent, this book may be a helpful resource to anyone interested in the historical and theological antecedents to today's political quagmire.

Walter Laqueur
A History of Zionism
Schocken Books

Walter Laqueur, internationally renowned historian, has created a masterpiece that has stood the test of time (it was originally written over 30 years ago!), and has become one of the standard works on the subject. The book explores the roots of Zionism from the French Revolution to the establishment of the State of Israel, making use of a wide range of primary and secondary sources in various languages. Laqueur gives a rich and penetrating description of the Jewish communities in both Western and Eastern Europe, describing the various forces that tugged at the Jews during this period - anti-semitism, an increased desire to assimilate on the one hand and a growing sense of self-pride in Jewish heritage on the other. It was against this background that Zionism burst onto the scene in the late 19th century.