Download or read book Trial and Error The Autobiography of Chaim Weizmann written by Chaim Weizmann and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-07-31 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chaim Weizmann’s autobiography is a highly personal account of his life in the Zionist movement. Book One, completed in 1941, covers the years 1874-1917 and Book Two covers the years 1918-1948. Weizmann describes the Russian shtetl where he was born in 1874, his schooling in Pinsk and his university studies in Berlin, Geneva and Freiburg (Switzerland) where he received his PhD in chemistry in 1899 before moving to Manchester in 1904. He portrays many leading Zionists such as Theodor Herzl, Achad Ha-am, Max Nordau, Shmarya Levin, Ussishkin, Jabotinsky, Ruppin. He describes the opposition by assimilationist Jews (like Edwin Montagu) to Zionism, and internal debates within the Zionist movement, such as the defeat of Herzl’s Uganda plan — bitterly opposed by Weizmann — at the 6th Zionist Congress (1903) and his frictions with the American Zionists led by Brandeis. Weizmann describes how, during World War I, his work on acetone brought him into contact with British political leaders such as Lloyd George, Arthur Balfour and Winston Churchill and facilitated the Balfour Declaration which, in 1917, paved the way for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”. Weizmann recounts his role in the creation of what would become Israel’s leading scientific institutions, the Hebrew University, the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Technion, including his fundraising efforts in Europe and in the United States on their behalf and for other Zionist initiatives. He became the first President of Israel, and died in office in 1952. “... one of the important historical documents of our time.” — Orville Prescott, The New York Times (January 19, 1949) “[Trial and Error] is likely to be read for many years to come as an authoritative exposition of the Zionist movement ... records eye-witness accounts of so many crucial events and reflects so many deep insights that it is certain to become of permanent value to the scholar and a delight to the general reader.” — Salo Baron, The New York Times (January 23, 1949) “There are four angles from which one can approach this book. One can take it as a history of Zionism during the last seventy years... a record of personal endeavour triumphant over obstacles and dissension... a sad commentary upon human achievement, when eventual triumph comes at a date, and in circumstances, which rob it of its full savour... the self-portrait of a most remarkable man.” — Harold Nicolson, The Observer (March 27, 1949) “Notable in this intellectually candid record is the fact that [Weizmann] embraced and propagated Jewish nationalism because he regarded it as a positive good, not merely a negative escape from gentile persecution. This intensely human book, which in a sense is the story of modern Zionism, constitutes one of the indispensable sources for the history of our times.” — Robert Gale Woolbert, Foreign Affairs (July 1949) “[Weizmann’s] autobiography ... is an astonishingly objective and life-like narrative, without a trace of dramatization, exaggeration, vanity, self-pity, self-justification; it conveys his authentic, richly and evenly developed, autonomous, proud, firmly built, somewhat ironical nature, free from inner conflict, in deep, instinctive harmony with the forces of nature and society, and therefore possessed of natural wisdom, dignity and authority.” — Sir Isaiah Berlin, Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory, Oxford University (November 19, 1957) “Ranks between Churchill’s war memoirs and those of Nehru, Masaryk and Trotzky, among the founders’ own stories ... above all a human book, the record of the experiences and reactions of a man who fought over issues that were important” — Congress Bulletin (April 1949)
Download or read book Chaim Weizmann written by T. G Fraser and published by Makers of the Modern World. This book was released on 2009 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the Jewish people were not technically part of the reparations, dissolution, and remaking of new countries after WWI, they took the opportunity to express their needs and carve out a solution for a homeland. This process took almost thirty years, but it was started at the Paris Peace Conferences by the tenacity, vision, and startling diplomacy of Chaim Weizmann. Attracting both strong support and opposition in the West, Weizmann presented the Zionist position, finally securing the British Mandate for Palestine in 1922. This is an important book for anyone who seeks to understand the aspirations and eventually realized dreams of the Zionist movement and the founding of the Israeli state as we know it today.
Download or read book Balfour and Weizmann written by Geoffrey Lewis and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2009-05-31 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating insight into the relationship between Arthur Balfour and Chaim Weizmann and an important background to the Arab-Israeli conflict raging today.
Download or read book The War of the Zionist Giants written by Nick Reynold and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-11-16 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two major forces in the creation of the State of Israel in May 1948 were David Ben-Gurion and Chaim Weizmann. While each “giant” led very different lives, their paths crossed, or often clashed, as they became major influencers on the world stage. They worked together to bring about an independent Jewish state while simultaneously clashing over different political styles and beliefs. Weizmann became the President of the Zionist Organization while Ben-Gurion worked to oppose him as much as possible. This book describes the battle between two very strong and determined “giants” which took place over 32 years. The author explores the lives of each man and what factors led to their differing political beliefs. Reynold also examines the specific instances in which the two clashed or worked together to bring about change.
Download or read book Racing Against History written by Rick Richman and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2018-01-30 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Racing Against History is the stunning story of three powerful personalities who sought in 1940 to turn the tide of history. David Ben-Gurion, Vladimir Jabotinsky, and Chaim Weizmann—the leaders of the left, right, and center of Zionism—undertook separate missions that year to America, then frozen in isolationism, to seek support for a Jewish army to fight Hitler. Their efforts were at once heroic and tragic. The book presents a portrait of three historic figures and the American Jewish community—at the beginning of the most consequential decade in modern Jewish history—and a cautionary tale about divisions within the Jewish community at a time of American isolationism. Based on previously unpublished materials, the book sheds new light on Zionism in America and the history of World War II, and it aims to stimulate discussion about the evolving relationship between Israel and American Jews, as the Jewish State approaches its 70th anniversary under the continuing threat of annihilation. A book for general readers, history buffs and academics alike, it includes 75 pages of End Notes that enable readers to pursue the stunning story in further depth.
Download or read book The Balfour Declaration written by Jonathan Schneer and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the middle of the First World War, the British War Cabinet approved and issued a statement in the form of a letter that encouraged the settlement of the Jewish people in Palestine. Signed by the Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, the Balfour Declaration remains one of the most important documents of the last hundred years. Jonathan Schneer explores the story behind the declaration and its unforeseen consequences that have shaped the modern world, placing it in context paying attention to the fascinating characters who conceived, opposed and plotted around it - among them Lloyd George, Lord Rothschild, T.E. Lawrence, Prince Faisal and Aubrey Herbert (the man who was 'Greenmantle'). The Balfour Declaration brings vividly to life the origins of one of the world's longest lasting and most damaging conflicts.
Download or read book Einstein s German World written by Fritz Stern and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-16 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The French political philosopher Raymond Aron once observed that the twentieth century "could have been Germany's century." In 1900, the country was Europe's preeminent power, its material strength and strident militaristic ethos apparently balanced by a vital culture and extraordinary scientific achievement. It was poised to achieve greatness. In Einstein's German World, the eminent historian Fritz Stern explores the ambiguous promise of Germany before Hitler, as well as its horrifying decline into moral nihilism under Nazi rule, and aspects of its remarkable recovery since World War II. He does so by gracefully blending history and biography in a sequence of finely drawn studies of Germany's great scientists and of German-Jewish relations before and during Hitler's regime. Stern's central chapter traces the complex friendship of Albert Einstein and the Nobel Prize-winning chemist Fritz Haber, contrasting their responses to German life and to their Jewish heritage. Haber, a convert to Christianity and a firm German patriot until the rise of the Nazis; Einstein, a committed internationalist and pacifist, and a proud though secular Jew. Other chapters, also based on new archival sources, consider the turbulent and interrelated careers of the physicist Max Planck, an austere and powerful figure who helped to make Berlin a happy, productive place for Einstein and other legendary scientists; of Paul Ehrlich, the founder of chemotherapy; of Walther Rathenau, the German-Jewish industrialist and statesman tragically assassinated in 1922; and of Chaim Weizmann, chemist, Zionist, and first president of Israel, whose close relations with his German colleagues is here for the first time recounted. Stern examines the still controversial way that historians have dealt with World War I and Germans have dealt with their nation's defeat, and he analyzes the conflicts over the interpretations of Germany's past that persist to this day. He also writes movingly about the psychic cost of Germany's reunification in 1990, the reconciliation between Germany and Poland, and the challenges and prospects facing Germany today. At once historical and personal, provocative and accessible, Einstein's German World illuminates the issues that made Germany's and Europe's past and present so important in a tumultuous century of creativity and violence.
Download or read book Stable Peace Among Nations written by Arie Marcelo Kacowicz and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2000 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book builds on the original conceptualization of stable peace by Kenneth Boulding and adds contemporary theoretical and empirical understandings of its nature, causes, conditions, dimensions, and prospects for consolidation and expansion. In original research, fifteen international scholars assess the policy relevance of stable peace for the Middle East peace process and for the future of Europe.
Download or read book The Israeli Palestinian Conflict written by Dov Waxman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-04-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No conflict in the world has lasted as long, generated as many news headlines, or incited as much controversy as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet, despite, or perhaps because of, the degree of international attention it receives, the conflict is still widely misunderstood. While Israelis and Palestinians and their respective supporters trade accusations, many outside observers remain confused by the conflict's complexity and perplexed by the passion it arouses. The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: What Everyone Needs to Know® offers an even-handed and judicious guide to the world's most intractable dispute. Writing in an engaging, jargon-free Q&A format, Dov Waxman provides clear and concise answers to common questions, from the most basic to the most contentious. Covering the conflict from its nineteenth-century origins to the latest developments of the twenty-first century, this book explains the key events, examines the core issues, and presents the competing claims and narratives of both sides. Readers will learn what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is all about, how it has evolved over time, and why it continues to defy diplomatic efforts at a resolution.
Download or read book Paris 1919 written by Margaret MacMillan and published by Random House. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A landmark work of narrative history, Paris 1919 is the first full-scale treatment of the Peace Conference in more than twenty-five years. It offers a scintillating view of those dramatic and fateful days when much of the modern world was sketched out, when countries were created—Iraq, Yugoslavia, Israel—whose troubles haunt us still. Winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize • Winner of the PEN Hessell Tiltman Prize • Winner of the Duff Cooper Prize Between January and July 1919, after “the war to end all wars,” men and women from around the world converged on Paris to shape the peace. Center stage, for the first time in history, was an American president, Woodrow Wilson, who with his Fourteen Points seemed to promise to so many people the fulfillment of their dreams. Stern, intransigent, impatient when it came to security concerns and wildly idealistic in his dream of a League of Nations that would resolve all future conflict peacefully, Wilson is only one of the larger-than-life characters who fill the pages of this extraordinary book. David Lloyd George, the gregarious and wily British prime minister, brought Winston Churchill and John Maynard Keynes. Lawrence of Arabia joined the Arab delegation. Ho Chi Minh, a kitchen assistant at the Ritz, submitted a petition for an independent Vietnam. For six months, Paris was effectively the center of the world as the peacemakers carved up bankrupt empires and created new countries. This book brings to life the personalities, ideals, and prejudices of the men who shaped the settlement. They pushed Russia to the sidelines, alienated China, and dismissed the Arabs. They struggled with the problems of Kosovo, of the Kurds, and of a homeland for the Jews. The peacemakers, so it has been said, failed dismally; above all they failed to prevent another war. Margaret MacMillan argues that they have unfairly been made the scapegoats for the mistakes of those who came later. She refutes received ideas about the path from Versailles to World War II and debunks the widely accepted notion that reparations imposed on the Germans were in large part responsible for the Second World War. Praise for Paris 1919 “It’s easy to get into a war, but ending it is a more arduous matter. It was never more so than in 1919, at the Paris Conference. . . . This is an enthralling book: detailed, fair, unfailingly lively. Professor MacMillan has that essential quality of the historian, a narrative gift.” —Allan Massie, The Daily Telegraph (London)
Download or read book The Road to September 1939 written by Jehuda Reinharz and published by Brandeis University Press. This book was released on 2020-03 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preface: "The Birds Left Early"--"A Million Superfluous Jews" -- and More -- "The Dream of a Jewish State" -- "The Wailing Wall in Évian" and Kristallnacht -- Funeral March at St. James's Palace: "They Betrayed Czechoslovakia, Why Should They Not Betray Us as Well?" -- A Bridge Over the White Paper? -- The Forgotten Congress (Geneva, August 16-25, 1939) -- Will War Break Out? -- "So early, no one has seen death yet" -- Epilogue
Download or read book Israel written by Martin Gilbert and published by Rosetta Books. This book was released on 2014-06-05 with total page 860 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The most comprehensive account of Israeli history yet published” (Efraim Karsh, The Sunday Telegraph). Fleeing persecution in Europe, thousands of Jewish immigrants settled in Palestine after World War II. Renowned historian Martin Gilbert crafts a riveting account of Israel’s turbulent history, from the birth of the Zionist movement under Theodor Herzl to the unexpected declaration of its statehood in 1948, and through the many wars, conflicts, treaties, negotiations, and events that have shaped its past six decades—including the Six Day War, the Intifada, Suez, and the Yom Kippur War. Drawing on a wealth of first-hand source materials, eyewitness accounts, and his own personal and intimate knowledge of the country, Gilbert weaves a complex narrative that’s both gripping and informative, and probes both the ideals and realities of modern statehood. “Martin Gilbert has left us in his debt, not only for a superlative history of Israel, but also for a restatement of the classic vision of Zion, in which a Middle East without guns is not a bedtime story but an imperative long overdue. This is the vision for which Yitzhak Rabin gave his life. This book is tribute to his memory.” —Jonathan Sacks, The Times (London)
Download or read book Making the Modern Middle East written by T. G. Fraser and published by Gingko Library. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A century ago, as World War I got underway, the Middle East was dominated, as it had been for centuries, by the Ottoman Empire. But by 1923, its political shape had changed beyond recognition, as the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the insistent claims of Arab and Turkish nationalism and Zionism led to a redrawing of borders and shuffling of alliances—a transformation whose consequences are still felt today. This fully revised and updated second edition of The Makers of the Modern Middle East traces those changes and the ensuing history of the region through the rest of the twentieth century and on to the present. Focusing in particular on three leaders—Emir Feisal, Mustafa Kemal, and Chaim Weizmann—the book offers a clear, authoritative account of the region seen from a transnational perspective, one that enables readers to understand its complex history and the way it affects present-day events.
Download or read book The Letters and Papers of Chaim Weizmann written by Chaim Weizmann and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on 1983-01-01 with total page 770 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These two volumes of the papers of Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel, are essential for a complete understanding of Weizmann's thinking as a Jew, as a scientist, and as a political leader. They present statements deeply thought out, often polished before delivery, and intended for insertion into an historical record. This selection, which spans his life from 1898-1952, includes speeches (many of them to closed audiences and not previously published), private interviews, evidence before investigating committees, minutes of meetings, meirtbranda, and newspaper articles. It is evident from these papers that Weizmann had a larger vision of an audience before him: whether it be a group of listeners, a mass of readers, a government department, or an influential interlocuter. The earliest documents represent Weizmann's ideas alone; later ones reflect the views of like-minded Zionists and express the collective striving of his nation. These papers, together with the previously published twenty-three volumes of the letters of Chaim Weizmann, constitute a matchless commentary on over sixty years of dedication to building a nation-state on moral foundations.
Download or read book A State at Any Cost written by Tom Segev and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 672 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2019 National Jewish Book Award Finalist "[A] fascinating biography . . . a masterly portrait of a titanic yet unfulfilled man . . . this is a gripping study of power, and the loneliness of power." —The Economist As the founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion long ago secured his reputation as a leading figure of the twentieth century. Determined from an early age to create a Jewish state, he thereupon took control of the Zionist movement, declared Israel’s independence, and navigated his country through wars, controversies and remarkable achievements. And yet Ben-Gurion remains an enigma—he could be driven and imperious, or quizzical and confounding. In this definitive biography, Israel’s leading journalist-historian Tom Segev uses large amounts of previously unreleased archival material to give an original, nuanced account, transcending the myths and legends that have accreted around the man. Segev’s probing biography ranges from the villages of Poland to Manhattan libraries, London hotels, and the hills of Palestine, and shows us Ben-Gurion’s relentless activity across six decades. Along the way, Segev reveals for the first time Ben-Gurion’s secret negotiations with the British on the eve of Israel’s independence, his willingness to countenance the forced transfer of Arab neighbors, his relative indifference to Jerusalem, and his occasional “nutty moments”—from UFO sightings to plans for Israel to acquire territory in South America. Segev also reveals that Ben-Gurion first heard about the Holocaust from a Palestinian Arab acquaintance, and explores his tempestuous private life, including the testimony of four former lovers. The result is a full and startling portrait of a man who sought a state “at any cost”—at times through risk-taking, violence, and unpredictability, and at other times through compromise, moderation, and reason. Segev’s Ben-Gurion is neither a saint nor a villain but rather a historical actor who belongs in the company of Lenin or Churchill—a twentieth-century leader whose iron will and complex temperament left a complex and contentious legacy that we still reckon with today.
Download or read book The Impossible Takes Longer written by Vera Weizmann and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-08-16 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vera Chatzman was born on November 27, 1881, in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. She was a medical student soon to become a pediatrician when, in 1906, she married Chaim Weizmann, a chemist already involved in the Zionist movement. For the next 46 years of their marriage, Vera was his companion, hostess, critic and adviser, with an intimate view of Weizmann’s career as scientist, diplomat and Jewish leader. In this memoir by the wife of a prominent man who held on to her own career, Vera Weizmann recounts momentous events in Zionist history and relates her impressions of personalities such as David Ben-Gurion, Vladimir (Ze’ev) Jabotinsky, Albert Einstein, Isaiah Berlin, Harry Truman, Léon Blum and Arthur James Balfour. “The late Vera Weizmann, the wife of Israel’s first President, spent most of her life at the centre of Jewish history, and this book evokes, vividly, if painfully, the various crises suffered by the Jewish people before they finally attained Statehood... [Vera Weizmann’s] intensity of feelings makes it a moving social document.” — The Observer “... warm-hearted, engaging and often wise companion-volume to [Dr. Chaim Weizmann’s] magnificent Trial and Error... Its personal anecdotes... will enliven the Doctor’s more discreet paragraphs, and his carefully measured sentences.” — Sunday Telegraph “Vera Weizmann was one of the most remarkable personalities of those who led the great phase of Zionist development... This book contains her memories as related to her editor David Tutaev. He has succeeded in presenting her vivid self-portrait. Vera’s charm, will, wit and broad humour are here unmistakable and authentic.” — Christopher Sykes, Sunday Times (London) “The memoirs of Mrs. Chaim Weizmann are invested with the qualities of character, exacting civilized standards, and independence of spirit which her collaborator, Mr. Tutaev remarks upon in his memorial foreword (Mrs. Weizmann died in 1966 after approving proofs of this book). They reveal also that Mrs. Weizmann participated in her husband's public life fully and intimately; her book is a personal record of the Zionist movement at the highest level.” — Kirkus Reviews “In an age dominated by the big battalions the individual with nothing but the moral force of an idea can still make an impact on the world given the will, perseverance and character. The memoirs of the State of Israel’s first First Lady exemplify this truth while presenting a vivid panorama covering eighty-five eventful years... Affairs of state, conversations with Churchill, Truman, Lloyd George, Smuts, Orde Wingate, rub shoulders with the worries of everyday life, proud boasts with frank admissions. It is a most personal and revealing document as well as saga of achievement.” —Birmingham Post “Like Chaim Weizmann’s memoirs Trial and Error, it is a book that adds to history, and is the story of a miraculous achievement... [Vera Weizmann] records faithfully the principal political events affecting Zionism, and Chaim’s encounters with the statesmen and people who mattered in several countries. She has a talent for remembering good stories and witty conversations. Her book supplements the more political memoirs of her husband, adding picturesque details of the heroic period of Zionism, of the negotiations over years about the Balfour Declaration, and of the Jewish-English partnership in building the National Home.” — Jewish Chronicle
Download or read book The Last Days of Israel written by Barry Chamish and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2000 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Barry Chamish is changing Israel's perspective as no other journalist in his field. His previous books: 'Who Murdered Yitzhak Rabin', 'Traitors and Carpetbaggers in the Promised Land', and 'Israel Betrayed' have documented Israeli leadership controlled by dangerous, secretive European and American power brokers, using murder to push "peace" down an unwilling Israeli public's throat. His research has been accepted in Israel and worldwide. Chamish's Hebrew work has climbed to the top of the Israeli bestsellers lists, while his editions in English, Spanish, French, Russian, and German are impacting readers on 3 continents. In 'The Last Days of Israel', Chamish goes farther than ever before. He names names. He identifies Israel's hidden enemies and shows readers who really murdered Rabin. This book puts all of his previous research into highly focused perspective. When widely understood, this perspective has the potential of saving Israel. This book is a powerful tool for Israel's defense." -- from the cover
