The Pledge [Paperback]

Leonard Slater (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 26, 2000

The story of an incredible and dramatic race against time to provide a state not yet born with an Air Force and weapons to defend itself an epic that contained heroism, farce and endless contradictions. Its headquarters was a New York hotel known for its tall chorus girls.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fantastic, funny, and exciting--and absolutely true...a book that will be enjoyed by just about everyone!" -- Joseph Heller, author of Catch 22

About the Author

Leonard Slater spent over 25 years as a correspondent, writer and editor for Newsweek, NBC News and Time Magazine in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and throughout Europe and Asia. His research for the pledge was helped by his own reportorial recollections of Czechoslovakia and Israel in 1948.

Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (June 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595092977
• ISBN-13: 978-0595092970
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.9 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: #460,914 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 Absolute required reading for Israeli history, July 28, 2004

By 

Max J Rosenthal (DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pledge (Paperback)

I cannot possibly put into words how much I think anyone with even a passing interest in Israel should read this book. I would suspect that even the average politically active Zionist, even Israelis or Americans, has never heard of Rudolph Sonnenborn, the operation that this book describes, or most of the people in it. And frankly, that's pathetic. Not only is this a great and well-written story, real-life smuggling and covert operations at their very best, but it illuminates a lot of the dry facts that are found in basic histories of the War of Independence. Afterwards I was reading Howard Sachar's massive and bone-dry A History of Israel, and it was great to see mention of smuggled planes or illicit factories now that I actually knew the story behind them. This is quite seriously a must-read; quick, tense, well-written, and fascinating both as a story and as history.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pledge, December 5, 1999

By 

Leonard Slater (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pledge (Hardcover)

"The story of an incredible aand dramatic race against time -- to providea state not yet born with an army that was still illegal -- is told in one of the most suspenseful works of historey ever published. It was an Force was supplied with Nazi fighter planes, bought from Communst Czechoslovakia with dolllars solicited from an American real-estate magnate on the urging of a Socialist farmer, who ran this amateur undeerground operating out of the Hotel 14, a Manhattan hotel known for its high-kicking chorus girls, packed appearances by Frank Sinatra and its little old ladies.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pledge, March 5, 2001

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Pledge (Paperback)

There are only a few people who can qualify for nomination as "the person most responsible for the State of Israel being". One of those people is Rudolph G.Sonneborn. The only place you will ever read about him and his unique group, "the Sonneborn Institute", is in The Pledge. Leonard Slater "found" him and tells us of his importance in the creation of The State of Israel in this most important, most unbelievable, but absolutely true story. Everyone interested in Israel should read this book and know not only the facinating story, but learn about Rudolf G.Sonnnborn, one of the most important, yet most private of men, in Jewish history.