The five seasons of 1897 : shaping the Jewish future -- Winter in Berlin -- Spring in Vienna -- Summer in Basel -- Fall in Vilna -- Winter in Odessa -- The seven-hour-land : a light unto the nations -- Utopian ideals -- Hebrew revival -- Socialist dreams -- Orthodox reservations -- The national home : a state in the making? -- The autonomy solution -- The one-state solution -- The two-state solution -- The elsewhere solution -- Original Israel : a state defining itself -- What is a Jewish state? -- Who is a Jew in the Jewish state? -- Where is the new Canaan? -- Greater Israel : a state expanding -- Seventh day realities -- Messianic visions -- Apocalyptic nightmares -- Peace illusions -- Global Israel : a state beyond borders -- Israel abroad -- Israel imagined -- Israel lost and found -- Conclusion : Israel's new order.
Summary:
Many Zionists who advocated the creation of a Jewish state envisioned a nation like any other. Yet for Israel's founders, the state that emerged against all odds in 1948 was anything but ordinary. Born from the ashes of genocide and a long history of suffering, Israel was conceived to be unique, a model society and the heart of a prosperous new Middle East. It is this paradox, says historian Michael Brenner--the Jewish people's wish for a homeland both normal and exceptional?that shapes Israel's ongoing struggle to define itself and secure a place among nations. In Search of Israel is a major new history of this struggle from the late nineteenth century to our time.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.