Resistance, Rebellion, and Death: Essays

Customer Reviews:

The agony of a humanist.......2005-07-07

This collection of essays is the most brilliant one of Camus' diverse smaller non-fiction writings. The bulk of this book concerns his journalistic writings on the Algerian Revolution, Soviet Union etc. Through these essays, you understand the pain of Camus. Camus' ethics doesn't agree to mindless violence for the sake of power. He makes an impassioned plea for tolerance and humanitarian solutions to the problems of war and peace.

Camus is not necessarily logical or politically correct. His stand on the issue of independence of Algeria is a compromised position between French imperialism and Algerian aspirations for freedom during that period. However, in his passion for diagnozing the problems of his time and addressing them, he hits upon a lot of interesting insights and arguments.

Particularly brilliant for both its analysis and its conclusion is Camus' landmark long essay 'Reflections on the Guillotine' which occupies a fair part of the book. In this essay, Camus systematically demolishes all legal or quasi-moral justifications for capital punishment and answers the third aspect of the question - Whether human life is worth taking?

In his 'The Myth of Sisyphus', he had argued against self-murder. In 'The Rebel', he argued against murder and genocide. In this essay, he argues against legalized murder. But unlike his earlier works where he offered weak arguments after a brilliant analysis, here he hits the mark by demolishing the justifications for capital punishment, totally. This particular essay deserves to be considered a classic in the philosophy of law and justice.

Bracing clarity.......2004-12-03

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It has provided me with the strongest, most clear-headed confidence in the face of unrelenting hypocrisy and struggle. Camus was on the side of the angels for all of the conflicts of his time, a time that saw the darkest face of humanity. His arguments for compassion and justice are utterly transfixing and revelatory, and written with a clarity and insight that are simply breath-taking.

I challenge anyone that supports the death penalty to read "Reflections on the Guillotine" and walk away with their arguments intact. In this piece Camus utterly demolishes every argument for state-sanctioned murder while defending the right to live with dignity, a right that can easily encompass the self-defense by combat necessitated by circumstance.

Camus was a moral, intellectual, and physical hero, and reading these essays one is almost overcome by his sense of humilty, justice, and compassion. His writing is so crystalline, it's almost jolting. This is a powerful tonic for all those that despair of creating a place for the best qualities of the human race in times of utter darkness. A must-read.

An essential to the library called your mind.......2003-02-01

For nearly 30 years I have carried this book with me virtually everywhere. No, it's not "an easy read" - but it is worth buying (owning)and treasuring - if only for the FOURTH LETTER (to a German Friend)- it is the most moving argument/declaration for humanity and choosing it that I have ever seen anywhere.

Some (like Sartre?) might call it a "rationalization". But even those who have resigned themselves to the religions of cynicism and despair - could find a remnant of fight and even "goodness" (yikes!) inside themselves. Camus' words remind us that resignation and the inevitable indifference and inhumanity that follow are the ultimate betrayals of life.

While there is nothing "cheerful" or even optimistic about these writings - you'd have to be cold-blooded, heartless and completely beyond repair or redemption not to be inspired by the wistful aspirations that Camus exudes from his admittedly battered heart and soul.

I disagree with the reviewer (who did praise this precious book) Sartre is smart - but so is Camus - and Camus exudes the humanity that Sartre can't even see or imagine.

Sartre would tell us that we always have the freedom to at least rattle our chains (at least theoretically) - but Camus has the power to inspire us to want to.

"In the service of truth and the service of freedom.".......2001-04-05

"I step onto the podium only when forced to by the pressure of circumstances and by my conception of my function as a writer." (p. 132) From the circumstances of Fascist Spain and Nazi occupied France, to the circumstances of the Hungarian and Algerian struggles for freedom, Camus' essays demand involvement, require action in the face of hopelessness. He never offers a moment's peace for couch-potato complacency. "Freedom is not made up principally of privileges; it is made up especially of duties." (p. 96)

To read these essays is to step into the world of a man who said to Christians "I share with you the same revulsion from evil. But I do not share your hope, and I continue to struggle against this universe in which children suffer and die." (p. 71) And "Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of tortured children." (p. 73)

Camus is recalled to the podium, in a day when children are tortured and die in Chiapas while most turn a blind eye and complain that sitcoms just aren't what they used to be. These essays, possibly his most accessible work, demand an active response from the modern reader. Our struggle today, although not against Nazi minions, still must echo his "There are means that cannot be excused. I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice." (p. 5) [See Jamal's Live from Death Row and Peltier's Prison Writings, elsewhere on Amazon.]

Camus is outspoken about capital punishment, too. "It is obviously no less repulsive than the crime, and this new murder, far from making amends for the harm done to the social body, adds a new blot to the first one." (p. 176) His "Reflections on the Guillotine" is the longest essay in book. He views capital punishment, even in "free" societies, as an act of totalitarianism.

Camus proclaims the call to justice and the struggle for freedom found in the Old Testament, especially in the minor prophets. But he does so in a modern context, where God is silent and man is the maker of his own destiny. Although he sees no messianic age, he proclims the hope that by continuous effort evil can be diminished and freedom and justice may become more prevalent.

Five stars for courage, five stars for clarity, five stars for consistency. After the abortion of democracy on December 9, 2000, every freedom and justice seeking American needs to read this book.

(If you would like to respond to this review, click on the "about me" link above & send me email. Thanks!)

A good book............2000-08-22

Camus' essays are obviously more difficult to read than hisstories, and quite possibly more difficult to read than his philosophical investigations as well. Should they be read? Of course. In them, he speaks of similar topics (i.e. what to do in the face of absurditiy, human moral dilemmas, etc.) as he does in the other books, though in a more precise, more direct fashion. His views on the death penalty shaped my own almost completely.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 6414 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Further reflections on the guillotine.
Author: Ronald J. Allen
Publication: Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 95 Issue: 2 Page: 625(12)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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In this trade paperback flip book, Linda Lael Miller tells two complete stories, bringing together twin brothers who are separated at birth when their parents die on a wagon train headed for California. In The Lawman, Shay McQuillan, town marshal, teams up with his newly discovered twin, Tristan Saint-Laurent, to track down the elusive stagecoach robbers who stole Tristan's money and murdered Shay's fiancée. Shay is drawn to pretty Aislinn Lethaby, a newcomer to town with limited resources and a generous heart, whose desire to save Shay from danger provokes his exasperation and wins his love. In The Gunslinger, Tristan, a former bounty hunter recently turned cattle rancher, tangles with spirited Emily Starbuck, whose herd of sheep has the locals up in arms, while her innocent sensuality makes Tristan dream of settling down. Miller has a winning way with rascally Western characters and conveys the romantic relationships with down home sweetness. Readers will enjoy the competitive camaraderie between Shay and Tristan, who delight in confounding town folk--by posing as each other! --Ellen Edwards

Book Description

Across the Old West, a rugged pair of twin brothers find each other -- and the ladies of their dreams....

The Lawman

Marshal Shay McQuillan has a lot on his hands -- stagecoach robbers to track, a murdered fiancÉe to avenge -- and he doesn't need an identical twin brother, who he never knew existed, turning up out of the blue. Then Shay's world is truly shaken by lovely Aislinn Lethaby, a hotel worker who impulsively steps in to rescue him from danger! Is she a sweet distraction from his serious duties -- or the answer to his lonely heart?

The Gunslinger

Now that he has found his twin brother, all Tristan Saint-Laurent wants is to be a peaceful rancher. What he gets is Emily Starbuck, a determined package of trouble from back East. Tristan knows he should tell Emily and her aggravating sheep to move along, but he doesn't have the heart. Suddenly, the gunslinger is dreaming of married bliss. But his past may yet come between him and the woman he has come to loveŠ.

Customer Reviews:

The Twins.......2007-09-08

Lnda Lael Miller has a grip of the western world..Placed in the past it brings to light the roughness of life for Women of the West.

The lawman/gunslinger.......2005-09-29

I thoroughly enjoyed this book as I do all of her books. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is because I save those for the McKettrick Series. They are by far my favorite. But, this is definitely worth the read. ENJOY.

Two Sweet Stories..........2003-05-23

Two more sweet stories from Linda Laehl Miller that didn't disappoint me. As in most of her books, these two stories grab you in the beginning and hold you tight until you finish the last pages. These books were definitely not as "steamy" as other Miller books, but were sweet enough that it didn't matter. Wonderful stories that had me anticipating re-opening them to finish reading.

Great book - but this was a bit easier to put down.......2001-03-30

This book was good, but it lacked the "I can't put it down until I've finished it" quality. Shay and Tristen's story was well written. The first part of the book and the story about Shay and Asilin was very good. It also introduced the major characters in the story. The second part of the book about Tristen and Emily was a bit more slow moving. The constant bickering about the sheep and her claim to the land got tiring. It would have gone quicker if something would have happened to those stupid sheep.

Great Stories horrid endings.......2001-01-27

I absolutely loved both stories but I have to say that I hated the way the stories end. Each story ends with the characters' first love scene and then it jumps to an epilogue that takes place one year later. The stories need just a brief, maybe one page transition from that love scene before it jumps to the epilogue and it would flow a lot better. It shows the sign of a great writer to get the reader so emotionaly involved that you don't want the book to end but we still need to end the book without feeling cheated from a great ending.

3 Titles By Linda Lael Miller : One Wish McKettrick's Luck Two Brothers The Lawman/The Gunslinger

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3 Titles By Linda Lael Miller : One Wish McKettrick's Luck Two Brothers The Lawman/The Gunslinger
Linda Lael Miller
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000PGZSXI

Product Description

three mmpb books. 3 Titles By Linda Lael Miller : One Wish McKettrick's Luck Two Brothers The Lawman/The Gunslinger (contains two novels in one).

TWO BROTHERS THE LAWMAN: TWO BROTHERS THE GUNSLINGER

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TWO BROTHERS THE LAWMAN: TWO BROTHERS THE GUNSLINGER
LINDA LAEL MILLER
Manufacturer: POCKET BOOKS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MGEPDA

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Two Brothers: The Lawman/the Gunslinger
Linda Lael Miller
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GWGIWQ

Book Description

As a marine of Wardhaven, Kris Longknife has a lot to live up to and a lot to prove in the long-running struggle between her powerful family, a highly defensive-and offensive-Earth, and the hundreds of warring colonies. But an ill-conceived attack is bringing the war close to home and putting Kris's life on the line. Now she has only one choice: certain death on the front lines of rim space-or mutiny.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent series.......2007-07-27

This series of four books (with number five on the way) is fantastic. Each is impossible to put down once started, so pour yourself a refreshing beverage and pick a comfortable chair to read in. The characters are well drawn and quickly become people you care about. The situations are realistic, the combat sequences intense. It's always such a pleasure to make a find like this.

Couldnt get into this book........2007-05-12

I bought this book together with Tanya Huff's "A Confederation of Valor" and I thoroughly enjoyed Confederation of Valor. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Kris Longknife's book.

I fully admit I did not read the whole book. In fact, I only read the first fifteen pages. I just found the main character to be weak and the constant flashbacks to be, well, unconducive to good reading. I understand she's young, scared, has hangups about her history. But when she's in the middle of a mission and she's having these wimpy italised moments, I just want to roll my eyes and skip forward.

There are many reviewers who did enjoy this book, and the fact that there are many more in this series shows many people out there do like this book. I'm just being honest and putting my 2 cents on the table.

Kudos for Kris Longknife.......2007-02-13

Kris Longknife Mutineer by Mike Shepherd is a fun space opera adventure featuring a naval officer who is also the daughter of a highly placed politician. An ensign serving her first assignment, she has to contend with comrades who think she is a spoiled little rich girl and that she has risen not on the basis of her ability but because of who she is. This book brings the Honor Harrington and Herris Serrano books to mind-- there's nothing particularly unique in it, but it is a fun read with an exciting plot. Kris is an admirable heroine who manages to walk the fine line between honor, service and politics. Without using her familiar connections as a crutch, she does find a way to turn them into an asset for her and the other soldiers. I look forward to reading more books in the series!

Fun read!.......2006-12-22

This is an excellent tale! Mike Shepherd's naval military experience rings true in the space-based action advernture. Well worth the read!

A good read.......2006-11-15

If you like the Hornblower or Honor series you will like Kris Longknife: Mutineer. Lots of combat, both planet side and in space, lots of plots within plots, good characters, a happy ending and the plot is not weighed down by the science.
Kris Longknife is from a rich and powerful family yet joins the Navy. Why? Even she didn't know at first but as we follow her from conflict to another we watch she develop and become more than just a confused Ensign to a complete human being.

Set of 3 Novels. Kris Longknife Series: Volumes 1-3 By Mike Shepherd - Deserter, Mutineer, Defiant

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Set of 3 Novels. Kris Longknife Series: Volumes 1-3 By Mike Shepherd - Deserter, Mutineer, Defiant
Mike Shepherd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000VGJ56S

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Kris Longknife Series (Science Fiction) : Volumes 1-3 By Mike Shepherd - Deserter, Mutineer, Defiant.

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Ilan Pappe's book is the story of Palestine, a land inhabited by two peoples, and two national identities. It begins with the Ottomans in the early 1800s, the reign of Muhammad Ali, and traces a path through the arrival of the early Zionists at the end of that century, through the British mandate at the beginning of the twentieth century, the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and the subsequent wars and conflicts which culminated in the intifadas of 1987 and 2000. While these events provide the background to the narrative and explain the construction of Zionist and Palestinian nationalism, at center stage are those who lived through these times, men and women, children, peasants, workers, town-dwellers, Jews and Arabs. It is a story of coexistence and cooperation, as well as oppression, occupation, and exile. Ilan Pappe is well known as a revisionist historian of Palestine and a political commentator on the Israel-Palestine conflict. His book is a unique contribution to the history of this troubled land which all those concerned with developments is the Middle East will be compelled to read. Ilan Pappe teaches politics at Haifa University in Israel. He has written extensively on the politics of the Middle East, and is well known for his revisionist interpretation of Israel's past and as a critic of Israel's policies towards the Palestinians. His books include The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947-1951 (Taurlls, 1992) and The Israeli-Palestine Question (Routledge, 1999).

Customer Reviews:

need to be told.......2006-10-24

if you do want in depth about the land of palestine... here you have one on your shelf.

Cambridge University Press' Shameful Pandering to Terrorists.......2006-02-19

Pappé is the odd man out among the so-called New Historians. Unlike his colleagues, who pretend to base their anti-Israel writings on recently declassified documents from the British Mandate period and the first years of Israeli independence, Pappé is an unabashed "relativist" for whom historical research is a backward-looking projection of political attitudes and agendas regardless of actual facts. Aside from his doctoral dissertation, subsequently published as Britain and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1948-51,[1] Pappé's books are not based on archival documentation, preferring secondary (and deeply prejudiced) sources that aim at vindicating the Palestinian "narrative" of the conflict. He himself explains this in the introduction to A History of Modern Palestine:

My bias is apparent despite the desire of my peers that I stick to facts and the "truth" when reconstructing past realities. I view any such construction as vain and presumptuous. This book is written by one who admits compassion for the colonized not the colonizer; who sympathizes with the occupied not the occupiers.

This unabashed acknowledgment of personal bias and open political partisanship comes from a diehard ideologue who views Zionist and Israeli history as "more than a century of colonization, occupation, and dispossession of Palestinians." The equation of Zionism with colonialism, the cornerstone of Pappé's historical narrative, has been a staple of Arab propaganda since the early 1920s. Almost as predictable is the portrayal of Arabs and Palestinians as the hapless victims of this alleged foreign invasion.

Publication of A History of Modern Palestine by a prestigious academic press is a sad testament to the pervasive politicization of Middle Eastern studies where the dividing line between academic scholarship and unadulterated propaganda has been blurred, if not erased.

Even by the skewed standards of this field of studies, Pappé's latest book ranks in a class of its own. Not only does it add no new facts or ideas to the anti-Israel literature, but the sloppiness of its research astounds. It contains countless factual errors and inaccuracies. Yasir Arafat's birthplace is Cairo and not Jerusalem. The U.N. Special Commission on Palestine (UNSCOP) presented its report on August 31, 1947, not on November 29. Deir Yasin is a village near Jerusalem, and not in Haifa. Lawrence of Arabia had nothing to do with the Anglo-Hashemite correspondence that led to the "Great Arab Revolt" of World War I. Further, this correspondence was initiated by the Hashemites not by the British. Pappé even misspells the official English transliteration of President Weizmann's first name (Chaim, not Haim).

More serious is the book's consistent resort to factual misrepresentation, distortion, and outright falsehood. Readers are told of events that never happened, such as the nonexistent May 1948 Tantura "massacre" or the expulsion of Arabs within twelve days of the partition resolution. They learn of political decisions that were never made, such as the Anglo-French 1912 plan for the occupation of Palestine or the contriving of "a master plan to rid the future Jewish state of as many Palestinians as possible." And they are misinformed about military and political developments, such as the rationale for the Balfour declaration:

Without Russia, there was very little hope of successfully surrounding Germany with a ring of enemy states, a strategy it was hoped would cause Germany to surrender. The British government expected that Russian Jews would become the agents of pro-British propaganda that would persuade the tsarist government to come out clearly in support of the Allies' effort to subjugate Germany.

But Russia was a member of the Triple Entente coalition with Britain and France from the time of the outbreak of hostilities in 1914 and so needed no encouragement to join the war three years later, least of all by its despised and persecuted Jewish minority. In fact, it was hoped that the Zionist movement, by virtue of its perceived connections to the Bolshevik movement, would help keep communist Russia in the war.

Pappé claims that Theodor Herzl "attempted to enlist British help in installing a temporary Jewish state (i.e., one that would eventually be moved to Palestine) in British Uganda, an offer which was seriously considered by some in Whitehall," only to have his plan foiled by Weizmann. In fact, it was British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, not Herzl, who conceived of the East Africa idea. Nor was the "Uganda plan" foiled by Herzl's opponents, least of all Weizmann. Herzl narrowly got the plan passed by his last Zionist Congress in 1903, overriding the opposition of such Zionist leaders as Menahem Ussishkin and Yehiel Chlenov; it was only after Herzl's death in July 1904 that the idea was unceremoniously buried.

A final example of Pappé's distortion concerns the tidal wave of Arab violence that immediately followed the U.N. partition vote in November 1947. On the day after the vote, a spate of Arab attacks left seven Jews dead and scores more wounded. Shooting, stoning, and rioting continued apace in the following days. The consulates of Poland and Sweden, both of whose governments had voted for partition, were attacked. Bombs were thrown into cafes, Molotov cocktails were hurled at shops, a synagogue was set on fire. On December 3, at the instigation of the Palestinian leadership, a large mob ransacked the new Jewish commercial center in Jerusalem, looting and burning shops and stabbing and stoning whomever they happened upon. The next day, some 120-150 armed Arabs attacked Kibbutz Efal, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, in the first large-scale attempt to storm a Jewish village.

Ignoring this heavily documented historical record, Pappé whitewashes this violence as intra-communal clashes "activated by hotheaded youth on both sides." He even makes the mind-boggling claim that this violence had been triggered by the Haganah. Like so much else in A History of Modern Palestine, this is a falsehood.

Does Pappé count on the ignorance of the general reader to accept it? Does he expect his peers to give him a pass? That Cambridge University Press purveys this disgraceful work suggests that they just might. It also symbolizes the crisis in Middle East studies.

Efraim Karsh is director of the Mediterranean Studies Programme at King's College, University of London, and editor of the quarterly journal Israel Affairs. He is the author of Arafat's War: the Man and His Battle for Israeli Conquest (Grove Press, 2003).

[1] New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1988.

Ilan Pappe rewrites History to fit his own agenda.......2005-10-13

Ilan Pappe, has taken the history of israel and changed it to fit his revisionist dialogue and prpomte an anti Israel agenda. He uses information that cannot be documented, has decided on a one state solution and essentially calls for the elimination of the state of Israel, while he lives on a goverment salary, and is protected by the very soliders that he demonizes. He should be filed un "fiction" in the libraries.

Revisionist history at its worst.......2005-04-27

This is a work that pretends at objectivity, but is written with a clear agenda in mind. Pappe totally identifies with the Palestian Arab cause, and places the major onus for the conflict on the Jews of Israel. Thus he slants the major historical and political realities, in which the Jews have five times agreed to a peace plan based on partition while the Arabs have insistently refused to accept the Jews right to a state of their own. Pappe underplays the persistent and systematic Arab violence and terror which have been at the heart of the conflict from its beginning. He mistells the story of the 1947-1948 war minimizing the Arab agression, the calls of the leaders of Arab states for Palestinians to temporarily abandon their homes , so that invading Arab armies would be able to kill Jews more freely. He underplays the countless initiatives made by Israelis from all walks of life to live in peaceful relations with the Arabs. And does not really put the conflict into the context of the pan- Arabic, Islamic fundamentalist, and Arab nationalist processes which perpetuate the conflict even today.
This is Revisionist History at its worst, a distorting and ignoring of the factual and objective reality in order to promote a ' cause' . That cause is disguised and misrepresented in the work.
For Pappe as anyone who reads carefully will see is calling for a Jewish state which ceases to be Jewish in any meaningful way, and eventually becomes an Arab dominated one , in which its Arab minority will eventually become its majority. Pappe's analysis is one which aims to help bring about the destruction of Israel.
Is it surprising then that most Israelis consider him to be both a hypocrite and a traitor?

Historical fiction.......2004-08-23

This simply isn't history. In real life, people do things for reasons. Historians explain what happened and (to some extent) why. That is how they are able to infer as yet unknown details and even predict future attitudes and acts. Pappe gets plenty of facts wrong, but his biggest failing is to ascribe incorrect or even impossible motives to many of the people of the region.

This book is propaganda masquerading as history.

A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples

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History of Modern Palestine

A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples
Ilan Pappe
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521683157

Book Description

Ilan Pappe's book traces the history of Palestine from the Ottomans in the nineteenth century, through the British Mandate, the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and the subsequent wars and conflicts which have dominated this troubled region. The second edition of Pappe's book has been updated to include the dramatic events of the 1990s and the early twenty-first century. These years, which began with a sense of optimism, as the Oslo peace accord was being negotiated, culminated in the second intifada and the increase of militancy on both sides. Pappe explains the reasons for the failure of Oslo and the two-state solution, and reflects upon life thereafter as the Palestinians and Israelis battle it out under the shadow of the wall of separation. As in the first edition, it is the men, women and children of Palestine who are at the centre of Pappe's narrative.

Customer Reviews:

History of Modern Palestine.......2007-04-01

This book corrects myths about the very, very early days of Zionism in Palestine, and continues to the current time. A must read for anyone with the slightest interest in how the Middle East is exploding, literally, every day. Peg McCormack

A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples.(Book Review): An article from: Middle East Policy

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A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples.(Book Review): An article from: Middle East Policy
Robert Brenton Betts
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000B9DN40
Release Date: 2005-09-03

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Middle East Policy, published by Thomson Gale on June 22, 2005. The length of the article is 2528 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples.(Book Review)
Author: Robert Brenton Betts
Publication: Middle East Policy (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Page: 128(5)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples.(Book Review): An article from: The Australian Journal of Politics and History

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A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples.(Book Review): An article from: The Australian Journal of Politics and History
Renee Worringer
Manufacturer: University of Queensland Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Australia | Australia & Oceania | History | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Australian Journal of Politics and History, published by University of Queensland Press on March 1, 2005. The length of the article is 683 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples.(Book Review)
Author: Renee Worringer
Publication: The Australian Journal of Politics and History (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2005
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Volume: 51 Issue: 1 Page: 146(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Pure Pappe.(A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples)(Book Review): An article from: Middle East Quarterly

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A fine review of a horrible book

Pure Pappe.(A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples)(Book Review): An article from: Middle East Quarterly
Efraim Karsh
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Middle East Quarterly, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1113 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Pure Pappe.(A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples)(Book Review)
Author: Efraim Karsh
Publication: Middle East Quarterly (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Page: 82(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

A fine review of a horrible book.......2006-05-08

Karsh makes some excellent points in this review of a truly terrible book by Ilan Pappe.

As Karsh points out, Pappe admits that he is writing from a biased position. Rather than stick to truth, Pappe admits that he has "compassion for the colonized and not the colonizer who sympathizes with the occupied, not the occupier." Of course, there may not be universal agreement about just who the colonizer and occupier might be! In the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire might have merited that description. In 1919 through 1948, the British seem to me to have fit that description. But today, I think it is unreasonable to call all disputed land "occupied" by either side.

Karsh explains this point well. As he says, "the equation of Zionism with colonialism, the cornerstone of Pappe's historical narrative, has been a staple of Arab propaganda since the early 1920s. Almost as predictable is the portrayal of Arabs ... as the hapless victims of this alleged foreign invasion."

As Karsh shows us, the book itself is riddled with some amazing factual errors and misleading material. And he calls it "a sad testament to the pervasive politicization of Middle Eastern studies where the dividing line between academic scholarship and unadulterated propaganda has been blurred, if not erased." I myself find it alarming that the Cambridge University Press was willing to publish such trash.

I'd like to conclude with a point I made in my own review of Pappe's book. I called the book "propaganda masquerading as history" and said:

"This simply isn't history. In real life, people do things for reasons. Historians explain what happened and (to some extent) why. That is how they are able to infer as yet unknown details and even predict future attitudes and acts. Pappe gets plenty of facts wrong, but his biggest failing is to ascribe incorrect or even impossible motives to many of the people of the region."

I'm glad that Karsh took the time to describe some of those facts that Pappe gets wrong.

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