Ari Shavit is a leading Israeli journalist, a columnist for Haaretz, and a commentator on Israeli public television.
“This book will sweep you up in its narrative force and not let go
of you until it is done. [Shavit’s] accomplishment is so unlikely,
so total . . . that it makes you believe anything is possible,
even, God help us, peace in the Middle East.”—Simon Schama,
Financial Times
“[A] must-read book . . . Shavit celebrates the Zionist man-made
miracle—from its start-ups to its gay bars—while remaining
affectionate, critical, realistic and morally anchored. . . . His
book is a real contribution to changing the conversation about
Israel and building a healthier relationship with it. Before their
next ninety-minute phone call, both Barack and Bibi should read
it.”—Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times
“[An] important and powerful book . . . [Shavit] has an
undoctrinaire mind. He comes not to praise or to blame, though
along the way he does both, with erudition and with eloquence; he
comes instead to observe and to reflect. This is the least
tendentious book about Israel I have ever read. It is a Zionist
book unblinkered by Zionism. It is about the entirety of the
Israeli experience. Shavit is immersed in all of the history of his
country. While some of it offends him, none of it is alien to
him. . . . The author of My Promised Land is a dreamer
with an addiction to reality. He holds out for affirmation without
illusion. Shavit’s book is an extended test of his own capacity to
maintain his principles in full view of the brutality that
surrounds them.”—Leon Wieseltier, The New York Times Book
Review
“Spellbinding . . . In this divided, fought-over shard of land
splintered from the Middle East barely seventy years ago, Mr.
Shavit’s prophetic voice carries lessons that all sides need to
hear.”—The Economist
“One of the most nuanced and challenging books written on Israel in
years . . . [The] book’s real power: On an issue so prone to
polemic, Mr. Shavit offers candor.”—The Wall Street Journal
“A tour de force.”—Jewish Journal
“Reads like a love story and a thriller at once.”—Dwight
Garner, The New York Times
“[A] searingly honest, descriptively lush, painful and riveting
story of the creation of Zionism in Israel and [Shavit’s] own
personal voyage.”—The Washington Post
“Shavit is a master storyteller. [His] retelling of history jars us
out of our familiar retrospections, reminds us (and we do need
reminders) that there are historical reasons why Israel is a
country on the edge. . . . Required reading for both the left and
the right.”—The Jewish Week
“The most extraordinary book that I’ve read on [Israel] since Amos
Elon’s book called The Israelis, and that was published in the late
sixties.”—David Remnick, on Charlie Rose
“My Promised Land is an Israeli book like no other. Not since Amos
Elon’s The Israelis, Amos Oz’s In the Land of Israel, and Thomas
Friedman’s From Beirut to Jerusalem has there been such a powerful
and comprehensive book written about the Jewish State and the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ari Shavit is one of Israel’s leading
columnists and writers, and the story he tells describes with great
empathy the Palestinian tragedy and the century-long struggle
between Jews and Arabs over the Holy Land. While Shavit is being
brutally honest regarding the Zionist enterprise, he is also
insightful, sensitive, and attentive to the dramatic life-stories
of his fascinating heroes and heroines. The result is a unique
nonfiction book that has the qualities of fine literature. It
brings to life epic history without being a conventional history
book. It deepens contemporary political understanding without being
a one-sided political polemic. It is painful and provocative, yet
colorful, emotional, life-loving, and inspiring. My Promised Land
is the ultimate personal odyssey of a humanist exploring the
startling biography of his tormented homeland, which is at the very
center of global interest.”—Ehud Barak, former Prime Minister and
Defense Minister of Israel
“With deeply engaging personal narratives and morally nuanced
portraits, Ari Shavit takes us way beneath the headlines to the
very heart of Israel’s dilemmas in his brilliant new work. His
expertise as a reporter comes through in the interviews, while his
lyricism brings the writing—and the people—to life. Shavit also
challenges Israelis and Diaspora Jewry to be bold in imagining the
next chapter for Israel, a challenge that will no doubt be informed
by this important book.”—Rick Jacobs, president, Union for Reform
Judaism
“This is the epic history that Israel deserves—beautifully written,
dramatically rendered, full of moral complexity. Ari Shavit has
made a storied career of explaining Israel to Israelis; now he
shares his mind-blowing, trustworthy insights with the rest of us.
It is the best book on the subject to arrive in many
years.”—Franklin Foer, editor, The New Republic
“A beautiful, mesmerizing, morally serious, and vexing book. I’ve
been waiting most of my adult life for an Israeli to plumb the
deepest mysteries of his country’s existence and share his
discoveries, and Ari Shavit does so brilliantly, writing
simultaneously like a poet and a prophet. My Promised Land is a
remarkable achievement.”—Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent,
The Atlantic
“Ari Shavit’s My Promised Land is without question one of the most
important books about Israel and Zionism that I have ever read.
Both movingly inspiring and at times heartbreakingly painful, My
Promised Land tells the story of the Jewish state as it has never
been told before, capturing both the triumph and the torment of
Israel’s experience and soul. This is the book that has the
capacity to reinvent and reshape the long-overdue conversation
about how Israel’s complex past ought to shape its still-uncertain
future.”—Daniel Gordis, author of Saving Israel and Koret
Distinguished Fellow at Shalem College, Jerusalem
“This book is vital reading for Americans who care about the
future, not only of the United States but of the world.”—Jon
Meacham, author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
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