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Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel Hardcover – October 19, 2015
by
Dan Ephron
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Dan Ephron
(Author)
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Print length304 pages
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LanguageEnglish
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PublisherW. W. Norton & Company
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Publication dateOctober 19, 2015
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Dimensions6.5 x 1.1 x 9.6 inches
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ISBN-100393242099
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ISBN-13978-0393242096
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"An illuminating version of the story…admirably concise and meticulously reported."
― A. O. Scott, New York Times
"Exceptional…an electrifying political narrative twinned with an old-fashioned crime story―of the sort that ought to be taught in journalism schools for its restraint, pacing and expert creation of suspense…. The book is a Greek tragedy told in split screen, a frame-for-frame chronicle of a deplorable death foretold…. This tragedy ends, as so many do, with pride, suffering and fear on terrible display. It’s the flickering reel of fateful choices and desperate last moments that I’ll remember most."
― Jennifer Senior, New York Times
"Incisive…. In a crisp and lively narrative, Ephron walks the reader through the assassination itself and its aftermath…[and] infuses his book with relevance by circling back to bigger questions."
― Ilene Prusher, New York Times Book Review
"A clear-eyed account…captures the way politics in this young and tiny country are uniquely and deeply personal."
― The Economist
"Striking…if the story of Yitzhak Rabin and Yigal Amir has anything to teach, it’s that individuals matter…. The opportunity that Rabin was trying to seize―however small―was there for a moment, and it may never come again."
― Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker
"Carefully reported, clearly presented, concise and gripping…a reminder that what happened on a Tel Aviv sidewalk 20 years ago is as important to understanding Israel as any of its wars."
― Matti Friedman, The Washington Post
"Vividly written and sharply insightful, Killing a King is an important and valuable addition to our understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
― Adam Lebor, Literary Review
"Riveting."
― Ian Black, The Guardian
"An authoritative narrative that will serve as a valuable record of history. It is also a page-turner…practically every page carries the tense energy of fresh insight."
― David K. Shipler, Moment
"Stunning…a chilling reminder that sometimes an assassin’s bullet really can alter the course of history. By unearthing previously confidential police and court records, Ephron gives us the definitive account of a fatal turning point for Israel. Killing a King is thorough, even-handed, and absolutely authoritative."
― Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, and author of The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames
"The killing of Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish fanatic helped derail the promising but fragile Middle East peace process and plunged Israelis and Palestinians into a nightmarish era of political violence and recrimination that haunts them still. In Killing a King Ephron digs up important details that give new understanding to those terrible events and their enduring impact. His authoritative account is both a sharply etched political thriller and a meditation on all that has gone wrong in the Promised Land."
― Glenn Frankel, former Jerusalem bureau chief for the Washington Post and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting
"With remarkable reporting, Dan Ephron has written an epic story, honestly and skillfully. Killing a King is not just about Israel’s past. It’s also an important read for anyone who wishes to truly understand the country’s disturbing present and unsettling future."
― Etgar Keret, author of The Seven Good Years: A Memoir
― A. O. Scott, New York Times
"Exceptional…an electrifying political narrative twinned with an old-fashioned crime story―of the sort that ought to be taught in journalism schools for its restraint, pacing and expert creation of suspense…. The book is a Greek tragedy told in split screen, a frame-for-frame chronicle of a deplorable death foretold…. This tragedy ends, as so many do, with pride, suffering and fear on terrible display. It’s the flickering reel of fateful choices and desperate last moments that I’ll remember most."
― Jennifer Senior, New York Times
"Incisive…. In a crisp and lively narrative, Ephron walks the reader through the assassination itself and its aftermath…[and] infuses his book with relevance by circling back to bigger questions."
― Ilene Prusher, New York Times Book Review
"A clear-eyed account…captures the way politics in this young and tiny country are uniquely and deeply personal."
― The Economist
"Striking…if the story of Yitzhak Rabin and Yigal Amir has anything to teach, it’s that individuals matter…. The opportunity that Rabin was trying to seize―however small―was there for a moment, and it may never come again."
― Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker
"Carefully reported, clearly presented, concise and gripping…a reminder that what happened on a Tel Aviv sidewalk 20 years ago is as important to understanding Israel as any of its wars."
― Matti Friedman, The Washington Post
"Vividly written and sharply insightful, Killing a King is an important and valuable addition to our understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
― Adam Lebor, Literary Review
"Riveting."
― Ian Black, The Guardian
"An authoritative narrative that will serve as a valuable record of history. It is also a page-turner…practically every page carries the tense energy of fresh insight."
― David K. Shipler, Moment
"Stunning…a chilling reminder that sometimes an assassin’s bullet really can alter the course of history. By unearthing previously confidential police and court records, Ephron gives us the definitive account of a fatal turning point for Israel. Killing a King is thorough, even-handed, and absolutely authoritative."
― Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, and author of The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames
"The killing of Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish fanatic helped derail the promising but fragile Middle East peace process and plunged Israelis and Palestinians into a nightmarish era of political violence and recrimination that haunts them still. In Killing a King Ephron digs up important details that give new understanding to those terrible events and their enduring impact. His authoritative account is both a sharply etched political thriller and a meditation on all that has gone wrong in the Promised Land."
― Glenn Frankel, former Jerusalem bureau chief for the Washington Post and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting
"With remarkable reporting, Dan Ephron has written an epic story, honestly and skillfully. Killing a King is not just about Israel’s past. It’s also an important read for anyone who wishes to truly understand the country’s disturbing present and unsettling future."
― Etgar Keret, author of The Seven Good Years: A Memoir
About the Author
An award-winning writer, Dan Ephron has served as the Jerusalem bureau chief for Newsweek and the Daily Beast and now lives in New York City.
Product details
- Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition (October 19, 2015)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0393242099
- ISBN-13 : 978-0393242096
- Item Weight : 1.29 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.5 x 1.1 x 9.6 inches
-
Best Sellers Rank:
#850,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #818 in Historical Middle East Biographies
- #1,066 in Israel & Palestine History (Books)
- #1,214 in African Politics
- Customer Reviews:
Customer reviews
4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
131 global ratings
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2016
Verified Purchase
With the current stability/instability paradigm that makes up the Israeli-Palestinian relationship, it's easy to think that it will never be resolved. Yet between 1993 and 1995, there was a brief, shining moment when it seemed that not only would Israel make peace with Palestine, but that it would make peace with all of its Arab neighbors and that it was ultimately inevitable. But three bullets from an assassin's handgun in November 1995 changed all of that. What happened? In this intriguing book, Mr. Ephron weaves two tales: one of the peace process, led by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, that was gaining ground and looked to be on the road to success and a taut thriller about a religious zealot who stalked Rabin for nearly two years intent upon killing him. From start to finish, this book is nerve-wracking and tragic in its consequences. I will say that the assassination came a little earlier than expected, but this book is just as much about the death of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as well as the death of Rabin. And the epilogue includes one last mystery that will keep you turning the pages to the end. For anyone interested in modern Israel, I highly recommend this book.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Dan Ephron returns to a changed Israel and recounts the events leading to Yitzhak Rabin's murder 20 years ago
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2016Verified Purchase
'Killing a King' is simultaneously a fascinating and disspiriting account of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by journalist Dan Ephron. Ephron covered that event as a reporter. Going back years later as a bureau chief, he was struck to the degrees by which Israel has changed. The book is fascinating due to the insight and detail Ephron delivers. Its dual timelines - that of Rabin's juxtaposed with Yigal Amir's - is riveting, even when you know the outcome. It's disspiriting because Amir aimed to change history by "killing its king" and evidence suggests he succeeded.
Ephron also artfully explores some other veins. First, the degree to which Amir's circle of friends was complicit. He told pretty much everyone he was contemplating taking Rabin's life. Only a few seemed to take him literally. His brother Hagai was an avid co-conspirator. One acquaintance of an acquaintance filed a report with the internal security services, but the details were semi-fictional and purposely oblique.
That leads into another avenue that Ephron reports on: the failing of Israel's internal security apparatus. They were, at the time, tooled specifically to focus on the threats posed by Arab extremism & paid only close heed to rising threat of Jewish extremism which -- in Ephron's recounting -- seems there for the world to see. Coupled with the shocking lapse in security the night of Rabin's murder (his killer Amir is left to loiter untouched and unquestioned at Rabin's car), it paints a devastating portrait of institutional ineptitude.
Ephron also artfully explores some other veins. First, the degree to which Amir's circle of friends was complicit. He told pretty much everyone he was contemplating taking Rabin's life. Only a few seemed to take him literally. His brother Hagai was an avid co-conspirator. One acquaintance of an acquaintance filed a report with the internal security services, but the details were semi-fictional and purposely oblique.
That leads into another avenue that Ephron reports on: the failing of Israel's internal security apparatus. They were, at the time, tooled specifically to focus on the threats posed by Arab extremism & paid only close heed to rising threat of Jewish extremism which -- in Ephron's recounting -- seems there for the world to see. Coupled with the shocking lapse in security the night of Rabin's murder (his killer Amir is left to loiter untouched and unquestioned at Rabin's car), it paints a devastating portrait of institutional ineptitude.
4 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2016
Verified Purchase
I really don't really care for Israel, that's just a fact. Would probably have never read this if it wasn't a book for class. However, I found it a good read anyway. Very well done, and it takes on more of a form of a story rather then just presenting facts, making it an easier read.
One person found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2015
Verified Purchase
This is an excellent book. Well researched, deftly written, never preachy but with a definite point of view. A sad reminder of the danger of extremism -- from whatever source -- and the ability of even a single terrorist to change the course of historical events. While we cannot know what would have happened had Rabin not been killed, there can be no doubt that the repercussions of this assassination have been horrific.
3 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2017
Verified Purchase
Beautifully written account of an outrageous incident that removed a sincere man of peace at a critical crossroads in modern Middle East history. Sadly, history often pivots around great men or women who rise to the pressing issues of their time yet are prematurely cut down before they accomplish their mission. Rabin's assassination was a loss for the world.
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2015
Verified Purchase
It's hard to imagine what the Middle East would be like had Yigal Amir not succeeded with his plot to kill Yitzhak Rabin (sorry, spoilers!). Would peace exist between Israel and Palestine? Would it have inevitably broken down as it seems to have done? These are questions the world would love to know.
This book is a fantastic look at the polarizing state of Israeli society at the time of Rabin's assassination, at how two brother's became radicalized and how an entire section of the Israeli political spectrum could incite such hatred against Rabin. An incredibly detailed examination of the months before and after the shot heard around the Middle East and an expose of the criminal negligence of Shabak and their failures to protect their leader.
This book is a fantastic look at the polarizing state of Israeli society at the time of Rabin's assassination, at how two brother's became radicalized and how an entire section of the Israeli political spectrum could incite such hatred against Rabin. An incredibly detailed examination of the months before and after the shot heard around the Middle East and an expose of the criminal negligence of Shabak and their failures to protect their leader.
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2016
Verified Purchase
A well researched and written book that draws you in like a Daniel Silva book and doesn't stop. A really shocking tale of fanaticism combined with unexpected incompetence that has changed the history of the Middle East and perhaps the world. A must read for anyone desiring an understanding of this period.
2 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2016
Verified Purchase
Fascinating narrative about this period in history I admittedly knew little about. A little slow to get into it (and names of key players confusing sometimes) but once I got about 100 pages in it really was a fast read. I wonder if we can return to a time in Israeli-Palestinian relations where peace seemed just out of reach and actually achieve it this time?
Good read for everyone interested in politics of Israel and its neighbors.
Good read for everyone interested in politics of Israel and its neighbors.
Top reviews from other countries
rotmanpr
5.0 out of 5 stars
A page turner
Reviewed in Canada on December 13, 2015Verified Purchase
An absorbing page turner as Israeli hero Rabin races against time and his assassin. Outstanding detail about the religious right which spawned the Jewish assassin and the many security lapses and missed opportunities to prevent the calamity. Fantastically written and well paced, Ephron deserves a real 'Mazel Tov' for this outstanding achievement.
2 people found this helpful
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Leith Campbell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on October 31, 2015Verified Purchase
Outstanding historical account. We lost one of the heroes of Israel.
2 people found this helpful
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Mike Abrahams
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 29, 2016Verified Purchase
Modern history about the murder of the then Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin.
One person found this helpful
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