City of Oranges: An Intimate History of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: clock tower square, widening divide, Tel Aviv, Old Jaffa, West Bank (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. As any student of the Middle East can attest, there's almost no way to approach the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with objectivity; virtually every word about it comes weighted with ideology or political mission. But English journalist LeBor (the Times) has achieved the near-impossible. While ostensibly telling the story of one town, he sketches the tale of Israel's birth and concomitant Palestinian nakba (catastrophe), with the knotted lives of Jaffa's Arab and Jewish residents serving as a humanizing lens. Though not a rigorous academic study, this history encompasses both the familiar (nonstop wars) and the lesser-known (Syria's 1949 peace overtures). Dotted with delightful period details, it gives individual opinion free rein, reporting contradictions without judgment. The history of both peoples is marked by trauma and courage, and neither side has really managed to listen to the other—because, LeBor notes, "any recognition of each other's losses is a kind of surrender in the endless battle for memory as well as territory." He quietly condemns the worst excesses of both sides—Israeli occupation, Palestinian corruption, Israeli racism, Palestinian suicide terrorism—and comes down on the side of compromise. Some readers will noisily object, but those looking for a well-rounded and truly human insight into the conflict will enjoy this account. (May)
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* LeBor constructs his "intimate history" from the lives of six families--two Christian, two Muslim, and two Jewish--rooted in the ancient port city now part of Tel Aviv. From extensive personal interviews, memoirs, and private archives, he creates vivid portraits of these six families to illustrate the narrative of twentieth-century Arab-Jewish and Palestinian-Israeli relations. Though LeBor's dramatis personae may seem daunting, he knows his cast intimately, allowing the reader to be drawn into the complex and often turbulent lives of each generation as they endure political and social upheaval, urban decay and development, the violence of war, and the chaos of its aftermath. LeBor dispels common myths and media representations about both sides as he articulates, through the family members, the issues, little and big, of daily life in modern Israel. With striking conviction and eloquence, the six families share with LeBor their extraordinary, centuries-old histories and diasporas as they found themselves on different sides of violently divisive issues and events while living within this small, seaside city. Elliot Mandel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (May 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393329844
• ISBN-13: 978-0393329841
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #69,121 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Beginning is the End of Another Beginning, November 15, 2007

By	Grey Wolffe "Zeb Kantrowitz" (North Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews

OK if the title is too cryptic for you...for something to begin something else has to end or it would just be continuation. Zionism and the establishment of a "Jewish State" in the Middle East would by definition be the signal for the end of the Ottoman Province of Palestine (including parts of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt). The new state by definition would be a 'western' style democracy with socialist overtones. So there would have to be a drastic change in how and who ran things.

This book by Adam LeBor does a remarkable job of looking at the changes to Jaffa and Tel Aviv as a microcosm for the who Middle East problem. By looking at the long term (beginning at the end of the nineteenth century) effect of Zionist immigration to the 'Holy Land' (HL, has less of a stigma or side to it). After having lived in relative harmony (as long as the Moslems were the top of the pyramid) for many centuries the influx of European Jews and their European ways would have to upset the balance. Of the three groups, the Christians were put in the most desperate of positions since they were never in charge or control of their destinies.

LeBor does a good job of following the participant families as they go from rulers to ruled, rich to poor, immigrant to ruler, and ruler to emigrant. The best part of the narrative is LeBor's concentration on the effects more than the causes. Causes can be ambiguous but effects are usually straight forward.

Needless to say this is as objective a story as can be written by anyone of the history of the HL over the last one hundred years, and that it will takes decades if not centuries until there is anything like a final settlement of the issues. Just like the scars that remain from the Partition of India, or the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans (from the Czech lands) after WW2; it will take more than the changing of the names of the towns and cities to heal up the wounds and for the scars to fade.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two thumbs up, May 29, 2007

By	Christopher Condon - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

City of Oranges is a refreshingly balanced account of the modern history of Jaffa and the birth of the Jewish state.
LeBor's eye for detail and the rich family accounts bring the story to life, turning a historical account into a thoroughly enjoyable read. Reading about the lives of the six families and their truly amazing experiences manages to personalize the Isreali-Palestinian conflict.
It's an innovative approach that makes this book worth reading for anyone interested in Israel/Palestine.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended reading!, May 18, 2007

By	Nicole Rosenberg (Israel) - See all my reviews

If you are interested in Jaffa, or planning a trip to Israel, I recommend "A City of Oranges" as your bed-time read. It's well worth taking the time to delve into this well-written and interesting book.

Jaffa is a fascinating place, and not just because of the restaurants, art galleries and port that draw the tourists in, but because it still lives and breathes its history. Despite all the renovation and rebuilding that is going on, the streets are still narrow, the trees ancient, the people an interesting vibrant mix of Arabs and Jews.

I live in Israel and the book "A City of Oranges" was a revelation for me because as I wander around Jaffa, the names and stories from the book now resound in my mind. I have a much better understanding now of the history, how the Jews and Arabs living in Jaffa and environs interacted. In Jaffa there's a sense of the layers of people, events, times, and as I gaze at crumbling walls of once-elegant mansions I feel a new intensity, a glow of enlightenment, because I can now almost hear the voices from the book in my mind, and imagine the families who once lived there.

The book tells both sides of the story, while elaborating on the background, and historical events taking place at the time. It's not a light easy read because it's a detailed tapestry of stories, background and history. It's a book to be savored, not devoured. It's a book to read and reread. That's what I'm doing.