A History of Zionism: The First General History of Zionism

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This is a great book, it stands tall amongst the histories which impressed me most. For the first time, I managed to look at Zionism and the Zionist state through semi-neutral eyes. Full of details, written almost on an encyclopedic scale, it is bound to have some repetitions as the author tell the story and retells concentrating on each aspect of it. I will keep this book in my library as a landmark in my journey of mental cultivation. I am still an ardent opponent to the Zionist state, not just because it is based on a form of religion, but because it is a colonial power with no legal or logical justification for its existence. However A History of Zionism has helped me understand the moving forces behind it since the early beginnings of its movement.

A long and detailed walk through the development of political Zionism in its myriad forms, following the emergence of Herzl through the founding of the modern Jewish state of Israel. The book provides the reader with not just the marriage between the religious vision of Judaism with the emergent political landscape of emancipation that led to the idea of Jews becoming enablers of their own fate, but the deep wells of anti-Semitism that both created the need for a haven from the growing violence, and ultimately how the movement, both its leaders and masses, were unable to save the Jews of Europe from the flames of the Nazis. The limits of the movement's power and ability combined with the weak political position of Jews, and widespread poverty in Europe, is a repeated theme that shows just how high the climb was, facing off against not one, but multiple political powerhouses, including the imperial might of the Ottomans, British, Tzarist Russians, and the new political power centers in the US and USSR.

While the concurrent story of the various internal push and shove of the movement's leaders and various factions and wings, was interesting, despite the details, seemed to be almost an aside to the actions and motivations of its leaders (first Herzl, then Weizman). Labor Zionism, Revisionism, the rise of American Jews, all seemed like a background story to the central theme of action and limits of the leaders.

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