Ebook: A history of Israel: from the rise of Zionism to our time

First published in 1976, Howard M. Sachar's A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time was regarded one of the most valuable works available detailing the history of this still relatively young country. More than 30 years later, readers can again be immersed in this monumental work. The second edition of this volume covers topics such as the first of the Aliyahs in the 1880s; the rise of Jewish nationalism; the beginning of the political Zionist movement and, later, how the movement changed after Theodor Herzl; the Balfour Declaration; the factors that led to the Arab-Jewish confrontation; Palestine and its role both during the Second World War and after; the war of independence and the many wars that followed it over the next few decades; and the development of the Israeli republic and the many challenges it faced, both domestic and foreign, and still faces today.;The rise of Jewish nationalism -- The beginning of the Return -- Herzl and the rise of political Zionism -- The growth of the Yishuv -- The Balfour Declaration -- The establishment of the mandate -- Building the Jewish national home -- The seeds of Arab-Jewish confrontation -- Britain repudiates the Jewish national home -- Palestine in World War II -- The Yishuv repudiates the mandate -- The birth of Israel -- The war of independence -- The growth of the Israeli republic -- Ingathering and the struggle for economic survival -- The search for peace and security -- Sinai and Suez -- Years of economic and social growth -- A decade of political and diplomatic achievement -- Cultural and ideological currents -- The Six-Day War -- Israel as an empire -- Israel and world Jewry -- The War of the Day of Judgment -- Aftermath of an earthquake -- The Likud era begins -- An accommodation with Egypt -- Romantic nationalism and Realpolitik -- Revisionism at the apogee -- Israel in Lebanon -- A crisis of Israeli spirit, of diaspora loyalty -- The era of unity governments -- The wages of immobilism -- A tormented road to peace -- A deterioration of the Rabin-Peres legacy -- Ehud Barak's two years -- The bulldozer as prime minister -- The bulldozer as statesman -- Israel faces the Twenty-first Century -- A mottled landscape -- A Middle Eastern hour of decision.