Genesis 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War [Paperback]

Dan Kurzman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1992

This book tells the full story of the first Arab-Israeli war and the birth of the State of Israel. Based largely on some 1000 interviews with participants of all nations, it describes the important military and diplomatic events of that epic war - from the struggle between Truman and Dean Rusk to the fall of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter; from the Irgun-Stern Gang massacre at Deir Yassin to the ambush of a Hadassah hospital convoy; from the clandestine operations of the Jewish underground in the US to the secret negotiations between Jordan's King Abdullah and Moshe Dayan. Here are anecdotes and glimpses of great figures such as Weizmann, Ben-Gurion, Dayan, Abba Eban, Abdullah, Glubb Pasha, Ralph Bunche, and Nasser, and of the ordinary people who did the fighting; concentration-camp survivors, Sabras, foreign volunteers, and Arabs from throughout the Middle East. Here are all the major and minor participants and events of the great conflict that set the stage for and is crucial to the understanding of the present-day Israeli nation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this dramatic chronicle of the Arab-Israeli war from 1947 to 1949, some 1000 interviews express the human aspects of the conflict with remarkable fidelity. Illustrated.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

... the best thing on the 1948 war for the general reader that this reviewer has read - or is likely to read. --Washington Post

Historians will be using this book for many generations... Kurzman has told his story in brilliant form and with deep human compassion and understanding. --James A. Michener, author

... the best thing on the 1948 war for the general reader that this reviewer has read - or is likely to read. --Washington Post

... the best thing on the 1948 war for the general reader that this reviewer has read - or is likely to read. --Washington Post --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 804 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Pr (April 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306804735
• ISBN-13: 978-0306804731
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,051,845 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Monumental 1948 History - 800 Referenced Pages!, December 28, 2003

By 

Maximillian Ben Hanan (Sacramento, California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Genesis 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War (Paperback)

Make no mistake, reading "Genesis 1948 - the First Arab-Israeli" is no small undertaking. The book's 830 pages (without the preface) consist of some 793 pages with the text and accompanying maps while the remaining pages consist of extensive notes, a bibliography of more than 500 sources and a large and comprehensive index. The book is simply put, an epic of modern history and I highly recommend it as such.

The story is told in one of the best ways possible... from the vantage points of the participants. Much like the much-acclaimed best seller "O Jerusalem" by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, Dan Kurzman. The author of "Genesis 1948," conducted extensive research into the history of the 1948 War for Israeli Independence consulting over 500 books, newspapers, periodicals, pamphlets, diaries and documents (written in a number of languages including French, English, Arabic and Hebrew) in addition to conducting a large number of interviews with participants from every side in the war (Egyptians, British, Israelis, Transjordanians, Americans, UN personnel, etc.). He ranged from the Arab League Library in Cairo to Government Press Department Library in Tel Aviv. He took all that information and cobbled it together into a dramatic human-interest story full of facts and referenced detail.

Some have called the work biased and "home team" coverage, but I strongly disagree since you can look up any of the author's facts and read them for yourself. Having said that, I do feel that the author had more sympathy for the Israeli side, but it's also clear that he had considerable sympathy for the poor Arab farmers (fellaheen) forced to fight a war in Israel in which most didn't believe. I have been reading the history of the modern Middle East for many years (from both the perspective of the Arabs and the Israelis) and I don't feel that the author left out significant details of the history especially considering the work was originally written in 1970 before the climactic 1973 Yom Kippur War. Contrary to other reviews, Kurzman has no problem talking about Jewish terrorism during the pre-1948 period and also heavily criticizes the Israeli side throughout the book. On a likewise note, Kurzman was lucky to make contacts and conduct research in the Arab world before the 1973 Yom Kippur War after which the Arab world largely closed up foreign access to Arab libraries, media sources and interview possibilities.

------------------------

Dan Kurzman wrote the following of his book (on page xi of the preface):

"I have checked every fact to the extent possible, and discarded any questionable information that could not be verified. In the case of conflicting and irreconcilable accounts of events, I generally present them with all of their sources. Quotations and reflections are taken from diaries, memoirs, and other documentary material or from personal interviews. I rarely use dialogue, the accuracy of which has not been confirmed by at least two of the participants in the exchange. Thus the language is as authentic as any that might be used in an autobiography of the person quoted"

"Using the techniques of the novelist and biographer, I have tried to bring the history alive. To a large degree, history, is the story of people; and this book describes their role in one of the most poignant and important stories of our time."

------------------------

What really makes the book work is its' honest and endearing first-person perspectives of the participants of the 1948 War for Israeli Independence. It's hard to not to find some admiration and respect for people like Abdullah Tel of Transjordan, Sayed Taha of Egypt, the enigmatic David Ben Gurion of Israel, or even Gammal Nasser, future dictator of Egypt. Their stories are told making full use of their own biographies, diaries and such. Lesser-known figures also have their stories told and it was the stories of some of these "minor players" that really endeared "Genesis 1948" to me.

I highly recommend this extensively referenced history of the 1948 War for Israeli Independence.

Review by: Maximillian Ben Hanan

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars They don't come any better than this, April 27, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Genesis 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War (Paperback)

I have read and re-read this book many times. I always get new insights each time. It has the feel of a "you are there" historical account - a veritable time machine. This is a fascinating book. Any library, public or private, that does not have it is incomplete.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I doubt there's a book that's better, July 2, 1998

By 

Leon Keylin (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Genesis 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War (Paperback)

If you want to know what went on, what *really* went on in the 1948 war for Israel, then this book is a must!

Not only is this a historical reference to be used and re-used, but Kurzman writes true stories within the historical facts which makes the book almost like a historical novel.

I can't give enough praise for this book and it is definitely my top 10 book of all time.