Golda [Hardcover]

Elinor Burkett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 2008

Golda Meir was the first female head of state in the Western world and one of the most influential women in modern history. A blend of Emma Goldman and Martin Luther King Jr. in the guise of a cookie-serving grandmother, her uncompromising devotion to shaping and defending a Jewish homeland against dogged enemies and skittish allies stunned political contemporaries and transformed Middle Eastern politics for decades to follow. She outmaneuvered Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger at their own game of Realpolitik, and led Israel through a bloody war even as she eloquently pleaded for peace, carrying her nation through its most perilous hours while she herself battled cancer.

In this masterful biography, critically acclaimed author Elinor Burkett paints a vivid portrait of a legendary woman defined by contradictions: an iron resolve coupled with magnetic charm, a kindly demeanor that disguised a stunning hard-heartedness, and a complete dedication to her country that often overwhelmed her personal relationships.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As Israel's prime minister from 1969 to 1974, Golda Meir (1898–1978) was recognized by her wrinkled face and gray bun. But, Burkett (Another Planet: A Year in the Life of a Suburban High School) says in this sympathetic but balanced biography, the young Meir was so strikingly attractive that detractors grumbled she had slept her way up the political hierarchy. The rise of the Russian-born, Milwaukee-bred Golda Mabovitz, however, was due to her enormous popularity in the U.S. as a fund-raiser for a struggling Jewish settlement in pre-statehood Palestine. Meir was politicized by memories of poverty and anti-Semitism in czarist Russia and by a feisty, older sister who introduced her to socialist Zionism. A Zionist pioneer, Meir secretly negotiated with Jordan's King Abdullah before the U.N. vote to partition Palestine; became a fervent supporter of Soviet Jewry after her reluctant stint as Israel's first ambassador to Moscow; and hesitantly approved the assassination of Palestinian terrorists responsible for the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. Burkett says the price of Meir's nonstop political life was rocky relationships with her children and estranged husband. This is a solidly researched, highly readable portrait of a mesmerizing but, according to Burkett, ultimately lonely woman, though much of the material is familiar. 8 pages of b&w photos. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Zionist, socialist, and grandmother, Golda Meir was Russian by birth, American by immigration, and Israeli by conviction. Her role in the creation of the Jewish state naturally focuses Burkett’s biography, which leavens the heavy-duty politics with intimate portraits of her personality. Drawn from Burkett’s interviews and research in oral and printed histories, the depiction of Meir as unsentimental, single-minded, and prone to divide the world into enemies or friends touches the very qualities that steeled her. Ambivalent about Meir the woman, who Burkett concludes was a figure of tragic loneliness, Burkett presents Meir the politician in straightforward terms. From her awakening to the Zionist movement as a teenager in 1910s Milwaukee, to her commitment to it as a 1920s kibbutznik, to her leadership of it as Israel’s prime minister from 1969 to 1974, Meir’s life reflected the stormy events since Israel’s establishment in 1948 and its dilemmas of fighting for survival and seeking peace. The absence of a comprehensive Golda biography has long been apparent, and Burkett’s able production is a welcome arrival to the history shelf. --Gilbert Taylor

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: Harper; First Edition edition (April 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060786655
• ISBN-13: 978-0060786656
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #935,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Women and Judaism

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 Golda, June 29, 2008

By 

Kathleen C. Buckley (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Golda (Hardcover)

I heard the author discuss this book on my local NPR station. GOlda had always fascinated me so I purchased the book. I have almost finished it. It is very readable. GOlda was a complex woman, fiercely devoted to Israel, much to the detriment of her family. She was probably Israel's number one fund raiser, which enabled the country to assimilated hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the world. Israel was also able to purchase the military hardward needed to defend itself against its hostile neighbors. She was the first woman head of state in the western world. Although she was flawed she managed to hold Israel together in trying times. I loved this book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very readable biography of a very important woman and time, July 24, 2008

By 

Elmann "Kenneth Ellman" (Box 18, Newton, N.J 07860 United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Golda (Hardcover)

From Kenneth Ellman, Newton, New Jersey, 07860, [e-mail]
This is a well done and very readable book about one of the most important leaders of Israel and one of the most accomplished female political leaders anywhere, ever.
The fact that Golda Meir was born in Russia in abysmal poverty as many of our families were in the time of the Czar, then emigrated to and lived in the United States and worked as a school teacher in Milwaukee and then later became the Prime Minister of Israel should be beyond any one book to fully capture. However this author Elinor Burkett has successfully accomplished a reasonable and comfortable presentation of history recreating the place of Israel and the Jewish people and the life, role and participation of Golda Meir. It appears the documentation and research is carefully done.

Many of us remember Golda Meir because we lived during her time of conflict, most memorably the extraordinary 1973 war when Israel and the Jewish people were faced with tests and choices of the greatest danger and risk. When the then Defense Minister Moshe Dayan was unable to function and became incompetent (to this day I do not understand what happened to the mind of Dayan at that time) somehow this "Ich bin a Yiddischer tochter", who had become Prime Minister of Israel a land in perpetual war, was able to lead the Country and People. There are many extraordinary events, which although previously known are again recounted in this book. Some of them may bring you to tears.
The story of the visits by Golda Meir as the then Ambassador to the Soviet Union from Israel, to the Choral Synagogue in Moscow during the time of the Stalin terror can leave you dazed. Tears and tears of joy are the memory of those Soviet Jews that haunts you. During one of her visits Golda Meir cried out "Thank you for having remained Jews". As is well known the Jews paid a heavy price for having done so. By the way the above quote "Ich bin a Yiddischer tochter" was from the wife of the Soviet Foreign Minister as one of the last words spoken to Golda Meir before Minister Molotov's wife was taken away and exiled to Kazakhstan.

This is a worthy and useful biography of a significant woman who accomplished many things and showed great leadership and courage in defense of her people whom I believe she loved.
It is unfortunate that political figures like her are all too uncommon in any country.
There is much to commend this book as an introduction to times and places not that long ago yet which are all too easily forgotten. It is very easy to understand, follow and enjoy. You will not want to put it down.
Kenneth Ellman, Newton, New Jersey 07860, [e-mail]

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning Biography of Complex Woman, August 23, 2010

By 

Nelson Aspen "Author/Journalist" (Los Angeles & NYC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Golda (Hardcover)

Elinor Burkett's bold and immaculately researched biography of the late Golda Meir is a captivating read, from start to finish. Part history, part adventure, this is a candid and "warts and all" look at the woman whose influence and personality helped shape a nation and still weilds influence in 21st Century world politics.