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Book Reviews

Book Review | The European Left and the Jewish Question 1848-1993: Between Zionism and Antisemitism

By Colin Shindler
 While many look to the rise of both Bolshevik Russia and Nazi Germany to understand the Left's evolution... Read more > February 2022

The Israel Question and the Left: A Review Essay

By Barry Finger
 Barry Finger is a frequent contributor to US socialist journals, a former shop steward and activist with the Public... Read more > January 2022

Rereading | The Idea of the Jewish State by Ben Halpern

By Donna Robinson Divine
 Donna Robinson Divine is Morningstar Family Professor of Jewish Studies and Emirita Professor of Government at Smith College.... Read more > January 2022

Book Review | The Passport as Home: Comfort in Rootlessness

By Philip Spencer
 The subtitle of this interesting memoir is ‘comfort in rootlessness’. This formulation is, as the author suggests, a... Read more > December 2021

Thomas Mann’s Philo-Semitism and Colm Toibin’s Thomas Mann

By Shalom Goldman
 In January 1934, the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior revoked the novelist Thomas Mann’s German citizenship, in... Read more > December 2021

Book Review | War of Shadows: Codebreakers, Spies, and the Secret Struggle to Drive the Nazis from the Middle East

By Efraim Halevy
 Gershom Gorenberg, a historian and journalist, has spent years researching and writing this account of dramatic events in... Read more > November 2021

The Fourth Window, or the Wounds of Amos Oz

By Liam Hoare
 Liam Hoare says The Fourth Window, a new documentary about Amos Oz by the Israeli filmmaker Yair Qedar,... Read more > November 2021

Book Review | Growing up Jewish in India: Synagogues, Customs and Communities from the Bene Israel to the Art of...

By Khinvraj Jangid
 Growing up Jewish in India is a book about the Jews of India told from a variety of... Read more > October 2021

Book Review | Hidden Heroes: One Woman's Story of Resistance and Rescue in The Soviet Union

By Yisrael Medad
 From 1962, when Matzot for Russia’s Jews for the upcoming Passover holiday were dumped on the pavement in... Read more > October 2021

Book Review | More Than I Love My Life

By Liam Hoare
 In October 1951, Rade Panić—who had fought for Josip Broz Tito’s partisans during the Second World War—committed suicide... Read more > September 2021

Rereadings | The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership by Yehuda Avner

By Liam Hoare
 ‘The ultimate insider’s account’ wrote George Gruen on the release of Yehuda Avner’s book The Prime Ministers in... Read more > July 2021

UK-Israel 2021 | Mandate: The Palestine Crucible 1919-1939

By Colin Shindler
 Three years ago, a retired British army officer, Ian Westerman, wrote an article in Ha'aretz, entitled 'What did... Read more > July 2021

Book Review | Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machines, Artificial Intelligence, and the Battle for the Future

By Justin Bronk
 Drone Wars is an ambitious attempt to provide a narrative framework for the development, combat usage and future... Read more > July 2021

The Three Best Books on Antisemitism, recommended by Dave Rich

By Dave Rich
 Fathom is inviting experts to select their three favourite books about a subject. The series began with Sara... Read more > June 2021

Book Review | Not in Kansas Anymore: Academic Freedom in Palestinian Universities

By Eve Garrard
 Academic freedom is the liberty which academics have, within the confines of the law, to question and test... Read more > June 2021

Book Review| The CIA War in Kurdistan: The Untold Story of the Northern Front in the Iraq War

By Paul Iddon
 Sam Faddis's recent account of his time as a CIA operations officer in Iraq in the run-up to... Read more > June 2021

Book Review | The Star and the Scepter: A Diplomatic History of Israel

By David Rodman
 The State of Israel has existed for a little over 70 years. A medium power by global standards,... Read more > April 2021

Three best books on Zionism, recommended by Gil Troy

By Gil Troy
 Fathom is inviting experts to select their three favourite books about a subject. The series began with Sara... Read more > April 2021

Book Review | The Wondering Jew

By Robin Moss
 In the spring and summer of 2017, Micah Goodman caused something of a publishing sensation with Milkud 67,... Read more > March 2021

Book Review | Jews Don’t Count

By Sarah Brown
 The premise of Jews Don’t Count is that antisemitism is too often glossed over – blanked out –... Read more > March 2021

Book Review | Judaism Straight Up, Why Real Religion Endures

By Daniel Goldman
 Professor Moshe Koppel is the founder and executive chairman of Forum Kohelet, an influential think tank instrumental in... Read more > March 2021

Book Review | The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, the US, and Iran’s Global Ambitions

By Kyle Orton
 A little over a year ago, U.S. President Donald Trump gave the order to kill Qassem Soleimani, the... Read more > March 2021

Book Review | Matzpen: A History of Israeli Dissidence

By Colin Shindler
 Lutz Fiedler's highly informative book about the far Left group, Matzpen, is a welcome addition to the recording... Read more > March 2021

Why you should read the two Israeli novels on the New York Times list of 100 notable books of 2020

By Liam Hoare
 Two Israeli novels — The Memory Monster by Yishai Sarid and The Tunnel by A.B. Yehoshua — made... Read more > February 2021

Book Review | Since 1948: Israeli Literature in the Making

By Liam Hoare
 In 2013, the New York-based Israeli novelist Rudy Namdar published The Ruined House. Both upon its initial Hebrew... Read more > December 2020

Book Review | The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace

By Alex Ryvchin
 There is perhaps no aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is subject to greater distortion than the so-called... Read more > June 2020

From Gil Troy to Susie Linfeld: Fathom writers share their favourite films and books about Israel (Week 8)

By Fathom Editors
 Each fortnight Fathom writers have been recommending Israel-related books, films or podcasts to help our readers through the lockdown. This... Read more > June 2020

Book Review | Arafat and Abbas: Portraits of Leadership in a State Postponed

By Khinvraj Jangid
 The Palestinian national movement has been in disarray for a long time. The failings of its political leadership... Read more > June 2020

From Matti Friedman to Einat Wilf: Fathom writers share their favourite films and books about Israel (Week 7)

By Fathom Editors
 Each fortnight Fathom writers have been recommending Israel-related books, films or podcasts to help our readers through the lockdown. This... Read more > May 2020

Book Review | Your Sons Are at Your Service: Tunisia's Missionaries of Jihad

By Kyle Orton
 Early in his new book, Your Sons Are At Your Service: Tunisia’s Missionaries of Jihad, The Washington Institute’s... Read more > May 2020

Book Review | Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality

By Yisrael Medad
 This slim volume traces Ian Lustick's thinking on why the two-state solution, which he terms the TSS, has... Read more > May 2020

BICOM Staffers Book and Film Lockdown Recommendations (Week 6)

By BICOM
 Each week Fathom writers have been recommending Israel-related books, films or podcasts to help our readers through the lockdown. This... Read more > May 2020

From Eve Garrard to Dave Rich: Fathom writers share their favourite books and films about Israel (Week 4)

By Fathom Editors
 Each week Fathom writers will recommend five Israel-related books, films or podcasts to help our readers through the... Read more > April 2020

Book Review | The Making of the Israeli Far-Right: Abba Ahimeir and Zionist Ideology

By Donna Robinson Divine
 It is hard to imagine a more fitting time for a study of Abba Ahimeir, not only because... Read more > April 2020

From Stephen De Wijze to Matthew Levitt, Fathom writers share their favourite books and films (Week 3)

By Fathom Editors
 Each week Fathom writers will recommend five Israel-related books, films or podcasts to help our readers through the... Read more > April 2020

Book Review | Israel’s Jewish Identity Crisis: State and Politics in the Middle East

By Michael Wegier
 Yadgar’s book was born out of a difficulty he found while teaching at Berkeley of recommending reading that... Read more > April 2020

From Jo-Ann Mort to Donna Robinson Divine: Fathom writers share their favourite books and films (Week 2)

By Fathom Editors
 Each week Fathom writers will recommend five Israel-related books, films or podcasts to help our readers through the... Read more > April 2020

Book Review | Be Strong and of Good Courage: How Israel’s Most Important Leaders Shaped Its Destiny

By David Rodman
 Israel faces a fateful decision. What should be the final status of the West Bank (Judea and Samaria... Read more > March 2020

From Hamutal Gouri to Andrei Markovits: Fathom writers share their favourite books and films about Israel (Week 1)

By Fathom Editors
 Each week Fathom writers will recommend five Israel-related books, films or podcasts to help our readers through the... Read more > March 2020

Book Review | Erdogan’s Empire: Turkey and the Politics of the Middle East

By Simon Waldman
 Soner Cagaptay is the director of the Turkish Research Programme at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy... Read more > March 2020

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