Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century [Paperback]

Martin Gilbert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 1998

From one of the world's most revered historians, the first major history of contemporary Jerusalem

"Gilbert is a first-rate storyteller." —The Wall Street Journal

"Fascinating and admirably readable . . . unmatched for sheer breadth of acutely observed historical detail." —Christopher Walker, The Times (London)

"Most noteworthy for its richness of letters, journals and anecdotes . . . the major events of this century come alive in eyewitness accounts." —The New York Times Book Review

"Extraordinarily vivid glimpses of Jerusalem life." —Atlanta Journal Constitution

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Renowned historian Martin Gilbert offers a history of Jerusalem in the 20th century through the eyewitness accounts of those who lived through it. Through documented accounts in letters, books and journals he follows the development of the city from a neglected Ottoman backwater, through the British mandate to the declaration of the state of Israel and the ensuing war in 1948, and on to the travails of the modern state which made Jerusalem its capital and created a modern city alongside the ancient one. Some of the most dramatic testimony concerns the division of the city in the 1948 war, and its reunification in the 1967 Six-Day war. Full of anecdotes that put history on a human level, the book includes the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the bus bombings of 1996. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A recurrent theme of this wonderfully vivid political, social and military history of 20th-century Jerusalem is that Arab intransigence in the face of repeated Jewish offers of peace, negotiation and reconciliation led to the protracted Israeli-Arab conflict. Gilbert contends that the Arab uprisings of 1921, 1929 and 1936 led to the separation of Jerusalem into Arab and Jewish neighborhoods. He also charges that Palestinian Arabs were, for decades, betrayed by their leaders, who rejected any form of Jewish sovereignty. And he notes that thousands of moderate Palestinians, who supported some form of compromise with the British or with the Jews, have been murdered by their fellow Arabs. He credits Teddy Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993, with making major efforts to draw Arabs into the municipality as equals and active city administrators. Marshaling primary sources and weaving in the accounts of journalists, politicians, settlers and visitors to Jerusalem, Gilbert makes a compelling?if debatable?case. Photos. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 412 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 22, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471283282
• ISBN-13: 978-0471283287
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,301,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sir Martin Gilbert is one of the leading historians of his generation. An Honorary Fellow of Merton College, Oxford - of which he was a fellow for thirty years - he is the official biographer of Churchill and the author of eighty books, among them Churchill - A Life and The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust. For more information please visit http://www.martingilbert

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century, December 18, 2000

By 

Matt Evans (Columbus, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)

Gilbert is magnificent in his ability to take a complicated history of events and tell them to the reader in a concise, readable text. He also refrains from editorializing the content towards one side of the struggle. I believe this book is essential for grasping the current unrest in the Old City and throughout Israel. As a recent visitor to Jerusalem, I only wish I could have read Gilbert's work prior to my trip.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vivid, Vital, Real - a delight to read, May 24, 2000

By 

sam (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)

I read Gilbert's modern history of Jerusalem a few months after I had lived in the city on a holiday. Sir Gilbert (he was knighted not long ago) has a unique genius in bringing the reader to real time through the voices of those who lived in the times. A balanced book with deep touches of humanity and pathos. One is in awe of how this small city has such a history of blood, tears and hopes. The amazing art of Gilbert's genius is that his skills are transparent to the reader and he is as much a teller of oral history in the way he brings the vast resource of his research and sources as told history. Highly recommended.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gilbert brilliantly brings the world of Jerusalem to life., April 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jerusalem in the Twentieth Century (Paperback)

Sir Martin Gilbert's book reads much like a novel, with insights from the men and women who lived through Jerusalem's last century. The people, many only larger-than-life names like Ben-Gurion, Rabin, and Kollek, become frighteningly real on the pages of this beautiful work. Gilbert has a rare gift: the ability to not only write like a historian, but also like a novelist, spinning a captivating tale with a rare twist: it is a true story.