Mandate Days: British Lives in Palestine, 1918-1948 [Paperback]

Dr. A. J. Sherman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2001

One of the great dramas in British imperial history, the strife-torn three decades of British rule in Palestine, known as the Mandate, remain controversial even now, more than fifty years after the last British High Commissioner left Jerusalem. British policies, promises, and the mere presence of Britain in the Holy Land are still passionately debated and deplored. The thousands of British citizens who actually lived and worked in Palestine have, however, been overlooked. Here for the first time is their story, drawn largely from personal letters, diaries, and memoirs that vividly describe their success in adapting to life in Palestine, their attitudes toward Arabs and Jews, their accomplishments and missteps, and their strong sense of imperial mission. This powerful account brings to life a notable chapter in the history of the Middle East and provides a new perspective on the struggle there for independence and nationhood.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The British ruled over Palestine, the state that would become Israel, from the end of World War I to 1948. In those three decades, writes A.J. Sherman, British colonial administrators "dimly appreciated that Palestine might present something of a problem, since it contained not merely a native Arab population firmly attached to their lands and traditions, but also a European-educated, sophisticated class of Zionist Jewish immigrants and settlers." That dim recognition, and the fond hope that Palestine would somehow fit into the scheme of a worldwide Pax Britannica, quickly gave way to resignation in the face of guerrilla war conducted by Arabs and Jews alike, waged against each other and against their occupiers, whose story Sherman ably tells. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Sherman (Island Refuge: Britain and Refugees from the Third Reich, not reviewed) is uniquely positioned to write on the British experience of Palestine: Born in Jerusalem under the mandate, he is a lawyer and historian. Rarely has the story of the mandate period in Palestine been told from the point of view of its caretakers, the British. Sherman uses diaries, letters, and interviews to recount the reactions of British subjects who found themselves working and living in what was then Palestine during the 30 years of British rule. From the outset, Whitehall naively tried to appease irreconcilable forces. The picture of the occupiers that emerges from the first half of this book makes it clear why: The British men and women quoted by Sherman project an air of earnest good intentions, leavened by a condescension to both Jew and Arab that often borders on (and sometimes lapses into) racism. The lasting impression of English life in 1920s Palestine is of a backwater in which the colonialists struggle to maintain a semblance of old-country habits from fox hunting (jackals, actually) to Gilbert and Sullivan. But with the '30s and the beginning of mass immigration of Jews into Palestine, tensions burst into violence repeatedly. And the aftermath of WW II brings the bloody, messy end of the mandate. The first half of this book suffers from the repetitive nature of daily life in an insular community, but the final two chapters, which take the story from 1939 to the end in 1948, make grimly compelling reading. Sherman writes elegantly himself, and many of his sources are insightful, particularly Sir Henry Gurney, the last high commissioner, in selections from his diaries. The casual distaste that many of the British display for the Jews (and, to a lesser extent, the Arabs) will discomfit many, but this is a readable version of the battle for Israeli independence from a perspective that will be unfamiliar to most Americans. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (April 27, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801866200
• ISBN-13: 978-0801866203
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,152,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Book, March 8, 2006

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mandate Days: British Lives in Palestine, 1918-1948 (Hardcover)

In this compact book the stories of British lives in Palestine is told through their diaries and life experiences. This is not the story of war or occupation or colonialism or polemic we are used to but a poignant fair account of individual people trapped in a hard situation, living their everyday lives. We learn of the early mandate, of Zionism and anti-Semitism among the English officers and their wives. We learn about the riots, the various governors, the Palestinian revolt, the Jewish terrorism, the war years when Rommel seemed on the border of victory, all these things and more. An immensely fair account given the nature of the story and the subsequent controversy, this book, more than most, perhaps captures the truth behind `colonialism' it wasn't a racist terrible thing made up of brutal unfeeling people, rather the colonialists were everyday people concerned with themselves and the events around them and usually working to improve the lots of the country to which they had entrusted their lives. The mandate period is fascinating and this is a fair and just picture of it.

Seth J. Frantzman

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful and depressing, September 24, 2011

By 

jenn (DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mandate Days: British Lives in Palestine, 1918-1948 (Paperback)

"Indubitably fascinating, even romantic, the peoples of the East were assumed to be incapable in their irrationality and technological backwardness of deciding their own interests, and were therefore to be guided by Britain, gently if possible, firmly if necessary, towards a better future."... "British officials and their wives... virtually all assumed without question that rule over non-Europeans, throughout large areas of the globe, was simply part of the natural order." This pretty much sums up the turn-of-the-century imperial thought. The book, primarily sourced from the vast reams of private correspondence in various museums and libraries, is a harsh but lyrical look at the British establishment of the Jewish National Home under Mandate, and its tragic saga over 30 years.

This is an incredible work of archival sourcing and editing, and a fantastic read.