How Israel Lost: The Four Questions - Hardcover

Richard Ben Cramer

3.75

189 ratings by Goodreads

9780786269709: How Israel Lost: The Four Questions

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786269707 ISBN 13: 9780786269709

Publisher: Thorndike Press, 2004

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A New York Times Bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning Author

Once in a while, a book comes along that not only discusses a topic, but changes the boundaries of that discussion. This is such a book, analyzing the impact of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza on both Israelis and Palestinians. Richard Ben Cramer's portrait of the Middle East is both up-to-the-minute and timeless, enlivened by his trademark humor, by humane understanding of the people caught in the conflict, and by his astonishing gift for language.

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Review:

It may seem surprising that a lengthy exploration of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians could be entertaining. But Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Ben Cramer manages to pull off just such a feat while sacrificing neither the gravity of the situation nor the intricacies of a political and religious war that seems to grow perpetually more bloody and intractable. He argues that Israel is being slowly destroyed by their continued occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, which is in turn destroying the Palestinians' hopes for a homeland of their own. Cramer's book is divided into four questions about the conflict ("Why do we care about Israel?", "Why don't the Palestinians have a state?", "What is a Jewish state?", and "Why is there no peace?") modeled after the questions asked at a Passover seder. It's tricky to bring fresh insight to the situation in the Middle East since the cycle of attacks and subsequent retaliations is so depressingly perpetual. But Cramer ! strikes just the right tone to spark reader interest: irreverent without being inappropriate, blunt and direct without oversimplifying, and passionate without being biased. He's at his best in the book's final chapter, offering advice for hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ("Give back the land - the West Bank and Gaza") and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ("bring one actual lawyer and someone to talk English on TV"). And while the history lessons provided in How Israel Lost are worthwhile, particularly to those whose knowledge of the conflict doesn't reach past the morning papers, it's Cramer's personal anecdotes of the human beings in the middle of the crisis and his own experiences covering it, combined with his lively writing, that make this such a compelling read. --John Moe

About the Author:

Richard Ben Cramer won the Pulitzer Prize for Middle East reporting in 1979. His journalism has appeared in Time, Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and Rolling Stone. He is the author of the bestselling Joe DiMaggio: The Hero's Life and the classic of modern American politics, What It Takes: The Way to the White House. He lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

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