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In the Land of Israel (Harvest in Translation) Paperback – October 31, 1993

by Amos Oz (Author)

15 customer reviews

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“An exemplary instance of a writer using his craft to come to grips with what is happening politically and to illuminate certain aspects of Israeli society that have generally been concealed by polemical formulas.” —The New York Times

Notebook in hand, Amos Oz traveled throughout Israel and the West Bank in the early 1980s to talk with workers, soldiers, religious zealots, aging pioneers, new immigrants, desperate Arabs, and visionaries, asking them questions about Israel’s past, present, and future. What he heard is set down here in those distinctive voices, alongside Oz’s observations and reflections. A classic insider’s view of a land whose complex past and troubled present make for an uncertain future.

“Oz’s vignettes . . . wondrously re-create whole worlds with an economy of words.” —Philadelphia Inquirer

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Language Notes

Text: English, Hebrew (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Amos Oz was born in Jerusalem in 1939. He is the author of fourteen novels and collections of short fiction, and numerous works of nonfiction. His acclaimed memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness was an international bestseller and recipient of the prestigious Goethe prize, as well as the National Jewish Book Award. Scenes from Village Life, a New York Times Notable Book, was awarded the Prix Méditerranée Étranger in 2010. He lives in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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Product Details

Series: Harvest in Translation
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Mariner Books; Reprint edition (October 31, 1993)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0156481146
ISBN-13: 978-0156481144
Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.8 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #167 in Books > History > Middle East > Israel & Palestine
- #747 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Anthropology > Cultural

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Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars

5 star		73%
4 star		13%
3 star		7%
2 star		7%
1 star		0%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful

simply amazing!

By Kristen Stewart VINE VOICE on December 7, 2000

Format: Paperback

This book was one assigned in my judaic civ class at unc. I was by no means excited about having to read it, but i found it to be a phenomenal, page-turning piece of non-fiction. More than any textbook, Oz describes the people and places of Israel so vividly you begin to feel as if you are visiting yourself. It was undeniably helpful to me, an American Christian who never really studied Israel, in understanding the complex world of Israeli politics. Moreover, it helped me to see the exent to which Judaism was present in Israeli life. He did a great job of giving Arabs a fair portrayal and a voice. I had a hard time believing Oz didn't make these characters up! I am looking forward to starting in on some of his fiction. What a brilliant writer!

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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

An essential read

By Singapore native on July 16, 2002

Format: Paperback

This book is an excellent contribution to the understanding of Israel in general and of the situation between the Palestinians and Israelis in particular and is, in my opnion, a "must read" for anyone interested in deepening their knowledge in this area.
The book is a collection of articles first published serially in 1982-83. Each chapter is an interview that author Amos Oz conducted in Israel or the Palestinian territories in late 1982. The interviews include a teacher at an orthodox rabbinical high school, two Palestinian journalists/writers, an Israeli Arab, settlers in the West Bank, North African Jewish immigrants, a French Catholic priest in Jerusalem, a Jewish farmer and his wife living in the coastal plain, and an elderly Rumanian immigrant in the seaside city of Ashdod.
It should be emphasized that the book is NOT a "cross section" of Israeli society and it does not profess to portray the "average" Israeli. Amos Oz himself says as much when he says he does not believe these articles to be a "representative" picture. Nevertheless, these articles have value in that they provide in depth views into one of the smallest yet one of the most complex and diverse societies on the planet.
However, what is most valuable about the book is the 17-page postscript added at the end. This postscript is a lecture that the author delivered in Michigan in 1993, ten years after the original interviews had taken place, and it presents the author's analysis of the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Mr. Oz believes in a two-state solution: Israel and Palestine, two independent states co-existing side by side peacefully. In this lecture, he presents the sanest, most rational, most balanced perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict of anyone I have ever heard or read.Read more ›

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

"The major barricade is the one that divides the Jews from the Israelis..."

By John P. Jones III TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on September 17, 2008

Format: Paperback

I decided to re-read this book after 25 years. And once again I was dazzled by the quality of the insights, and the masterful handling of dialogue, in which Amos Oz excels. For the non-Jewish American it is difficult to obtain an authentic, realistic portrait of Israel through the American media filter. Far better for that is Haaretz and Amos Oz. He sees, and conveys the anguish, in this collection of eleven marvelous short stories.

One of the major themes, but fortunately there are numerous others, is the one that divides the secular Israelis from the religious ones, the "Jews", which he conveys so eloquently in his story on "An Argument on Life and Death (A)". And it is the latter, in the adherence to their mindless fundamentalism that are ascendant; Oz struggles to convey the sentiments of the "Jews" even-handedly, but it is a struggle that he often loses.

Oz has this incredible ear for dialogue and the ability to transpose this to the written page. In short vignettes he explains why there was a major political transformation, without 800 pages of leaden analysis. For example, his story "The Insult and the Fury" clearly captures the anger that resulted in the rise of the Likud, and the political victory of Begin. Oz goes to the village of Bet Shemesh, with its heavy Sephardic population. The resentment seethes: "I'll tell you something about the hatred. But write it in good Hebrew. You want the hatred between us to end? First of all, come and apologize, properly." A catalog of grave offenses and slights of the "elite" Ashkenazis follows. One of the resounding point made is their unwillingness to ever give up the West Bank, because of their feeling that they had been brought to Israel to be the "hewers of wood, and drawers of water" for the Ashkenazis.Read more ›

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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful

gasp

By Ruth on July 18, 2000

Format: Paperback

This book takes the breath out of me! I have never been to Israel, but I've met israeis out and about. The violence of the opinions that people hold about israel etc. are difficult to handle sometimes. My admiration has always been for people who can discuss such intense issues squarely and without losing their cool. Oz does this. I don't know how fair the book is, or how reasonable, but was like holding dynamite in my hands. Each chapter develops the arguments presented by a different person/group of people. It leaves the impression of brave, passionate people in an intense country. Usually I can read a book from cover to cover, but this time is was like: read a chapter, recover for a few days, read another one. I strongly recommend this book. In some places it's beautiful.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

I'm finally catching up on the amazing work of Amos Oz

20-some years after the fact, I'm finally catching up on the amazing work of Amos Oz, arguably the greatest Israeli author of the 20th century. Read more

Published 2 months ago by zenarcade

rating for In the Land of Israel

I am quite familiar with the subject & found the story presented in a very simple manner. It became boring after awhile & I didn,t look forward to going back to it again. Read more

Published 16 months ago by marjorie sanger

Good reading before a Holy Land visit

Older overview by Israeli newspaper writer of the Israel - West Bank situation.
Uses conversations with people on all sides very effectively.

Published on April 12, 2013 by Alan Sorem

Travel Literature in a Tiny State

Amos Oz's book, In the Land of Israel, is a series of essay on the political and social scene in contemporary Israel (the book was published in 1982). Read more

Published on February 14, 2008 by Eric Maroney

Mythbuster

Although this book was first published in 1983 and updated in 1993 it is currently exceedingly topical and deserves not only to be read but incorporated into our thinking about... Read more

Published on July 8, 2006 by E. Rodin MD

20 years old and still remarkable and fresh

This remarkable portrait of Israeli society is organized around diverse populations and Oz allows each to speak with eloquence and passion for their own vision of what Israel is or... Read more

Published on April 26, 2006 by tarihci202

A small collective portrait of Israel in the 1980's

This is a book about meetings in Israel with different kinds of Israelis. Oz does a good job of listening sympathetically and narrating the stories and complaints of those he... Read more

Published on October 10, 2004 by Shalom Freedman

Israel in the 1980s

A somewhat fetishized portrayal of life in Israel in the early 1980s. The author describes interviews which he supposedly conducted with several different people in Israel. Read more

Published on February 17, 2004

Cross-Section of Israeli Society

This is a great book that provides a very insightful view of Israeli society. Oz has managed to present a great cross-section of views in Israel, interspersed with insightful... Read more

Published on August 16, 2001

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