Download or read book The Masada Complex written by Avraham Azrieli and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2011-01-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Masada El-Tal, an Israeli expatriate now working as an Arizona-based investigative reporter, becomes an assassination target as her latest project moves closer to uncovering the whole truth.
Download or read book Masada Myth written by Nachman Ben-Yehuda and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 73 A.D., legend has it, 960 Jewish rebels under siege in the ancient desert fortress of Masada committed suicide rather than surrender to a Roman legion. Recorded in only one historical source, the story of Masada was obscure for centuries. In The Masada Myth, Israeli sociologist Nachman Ben-Yehuda tracks the process by which Masada became an ideological symbol for the State of Israel, the dramatic subject of movies and miniseries, a shrine venerated by generations of Zionists and Israeli soldiers, and the most profitable tourist attraction in modern Israel. Ben-Yehuda describes how, after nearly 1800 years, the long, complex, and unsubstantiated narrative of Josephus Flavius was edited and augmented in the twentieth century to form a simple and powerful myth of heroism. He looks at the ways this new mythical narrative of Masada was created, promoted, and maintained by pre-state Jewish underground organizations, the Israeli army, archaeological teams, mass media, youth movements, textbooks, the tourist industry, and the arts. He discusses the various organizations and movements that created “the Masada experience” (usually a ritual trek through the Judean desert followed by a climb to the fortress and a dramatic reading of the Masada story), and how it changed over decades from a Zionist pilgrimage to a tourist destination. Placing the story in a larger historical, sociological, and psychological context, Ben-Yehuda draws upon theories of collective memory and mythmaking to analyze Masada’s crucial role in the nation-building process of modern Israel and the formation of a new Jewish identity. An expert on deviance and social control, Ben-Yehuda looks in particular at how and why a military failure and an enigmatic, troubling case of mass suicide (in conflict with Judaism’s teachings) were reconstructed and fabricated as a heroic tale.
Download or read book Masada written by Jodi Magness and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-08 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic story of the last stand of a group of Jewish rebels who held out against the Roman Empire, as revealed by the archaeology of its famous site Two thousand years ago, 967 Jewish men, women, and children—the last holdouts of the revolt against Rome following the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple—reportedly took their own lives rather than surrender to the Roman army. This dramatic event, which took place on top of Masada, a barren and windswept mountain overlooking the Dead Sea, spawned a powerful story of Jewish resistance that came to symbolize the embattled modern State of Israel. Incorporating the latest findings, Jodi Magness, an archaeologist who has excavated at Masada, explains what happened there—and what it has come to mean since. Featuring numerous illustrations, this is an engaging exploration of an ancient story that continues to grip the imagination today.
Download or read book Zion s Dilemmas written by Charles D. Freilich and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2012-09-28 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Zion's Dilemmas, a former deputy national security adviser to the State of Israel details the history and, in many cases, the chronic inadequacies in the making of Israeli national security policy. Chuck Freilich identifies profound, ongoing problems that he ascribes to a series of factors: a hostile and highly volatile regional environment, Israel's proportional representation electoral system, and structural peculiarities of the Israeli government and bureaucracy.Freilich uses his insider understanding and substantial archival and interview research to describe how Israel has made strategic decisions and to present a first of its kind model of national security decision-making in Israel. He analyzes the major events of the last thirty years, from Camp David I to the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, through Camp David II, the Gaza Disengagement Plan of 2005, and the second Lebanon war of 2006.In these and other cases he identifies opportunities forgone, failures that resulted from a flawed decision-making process, and the entanglement of Israeli leaders in an inconsistent, highly politicized, and sometimes improvisational planning process. The cabinet is dysfunctional and Israel does not have an effective statutory forum for its decision-making—most of which is thus conducted in informal settings. In many cases policy objectives and options are poorly formulated. For all these problems, however, the Israeli decision-making process does have some strengths, among them the ability to make rapid and flexible responses, generally pragmatic decision-making, effective planning within the defense establishment, and the skills and motivation of those involved. Freilich concludes with cogent and timely recommendations for reform.
Download or read book The Dovekeepers written by Alice Hoffman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-10-04 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An ambitious and mesmerizing novel from the bestselling author of Rules of Magic. The Dovekeepers is “striking….Hoffman grounds her expansive, intricately woven, and deepest new novel in biblical history, with a devotion and seriousness of purpose” (Entertainment Weekly). Nearly two thousand years ago, nine hundred Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on Masada, a mountain in the Judean desert. According to the ancient historian Josephus, two women and five children survived. Based on this tragic and iconic event, Hoffman’s novel is a spellbinding tale of four extraordinarily bold, resourceful, and sensuous women, each of whom has come to Masada by a different path. Yael’s mother died in childbirth, and her father, an expert assassin, never forgave her for that death. Revka, a village baker’s wife, watched the murder of her daughter by Roman soldiers; she brings to Masada her young grandsons, rendered mute by what they have witnessed. Aziza is a warrior’s daughter, raised as a boy, a fearless rider and expert marksman who finds passion with a fellow soldier. Shirah, born in Alexandria, is wise in the ways of ancient magic and medicine, a woman with uncanny insight and power. The lives of these four complex and fiercely independent women intersect in the desperate days of the siege. All are dovekeepers, and all are also keeping secrets—about who they are, where they come from, who fathered them, and whom they love.
Download or read book The Masada Syndrome written by Daniel Bar-Tal and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Masada Solution written by Jeffrey M. Fishman and published by Createspace Indie Pub Platform. This book was released on 2012-06-01 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a story of good versus evil, right versus wrong, honor versus immorality. Go with Jake Zimmer on this adventure to find peace in the world and his peace within. As militant Muslims wreak havoc on Israel and much of the civilized world, Jake yearns for peace. But when a terrorist's bomb affects him personally, he knows he can no longer accept the continuing slaughter of innocent people and the inevitability that Israel will cease to exist. He commits to doing whatever it takes to find a solution, even if he must reject the values that have guided his life and ignore the rules of diplomacy and covenants that constrain nations. Jake and a courageous Israeli, who also accepts that there are times when the ends do justify the means, devise a scheme to finally end the conflict between the Israelis and their hostile Arab neighbors. But, to free Israel to act on her own behalf, they must refute the Arab propaganda machine that foments international pressure and hostility against Israel.They convince the President of the United States to support and execute their ingenious and resourceful peace plan and enlist him to sell it to the world. During the lengthy and complicated implementation, those opposed wreak havoc and cause massive casualties worldwide. Their attacks are met with vengeance by a new Israeli Prime Minister, who, refusing to accept any appearance of weakness or defeat, vows to answer every evil act. Like former Prime Minister Golda Meir, he believes the killing of Israelis must come at a high price. So, when key officials are assassinated, a rocket installation is destroyed. When a synagogue is bombed, a mosque is attacked. Jake is astonished to find that, despite having a host of reasons to abandon the plan, the President remains steadfast, knowing the future survival of the Jewish state is held in the balance. Alliances are formed and destroyed, treachery and deceit rule as governments fail while the battles escalate. The Masada Solution takes you along as Jake and his allies struggle to achieve peace and security. The fast pace of this story will keep you turning pages to keep up with the action, the personal and political maneuvering, the adventure and the intrigue, until the unexpected ending.
Download or read book The Many Faces of Herod the Great written by Adam Kolman Marshak and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-22 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An old, bloodthirsty tyrant hears from a group of Magi about the birth of the Messiah, king of the Jews. He vengefully sends his soldiers to Bethlehem with orders to kill all of the baby boys in the town in order to preserve his own throne. For most of the Western world, this is Herod the Great -- an icon of cruelty and evil, the epitome of a tyrant. Adam Kolman Marshak portrays Herod the Great quite differently, however, carefully drawing on historical, archaeological, and literary sources. Marshak shows how Herod successfully ruled over his turbulent kingdom by skillfully interacting with his various audiences -- Roman, Hellenistic, and Judaean -- in myriad ways. Herod was indeed a master in political self-presentation. Marshak's fascinating account chronicles how Herod moved from the bankrupt usurper he was at the beginning of his reign to a wealthy and powerful king who founded a dynasty and brought ancient Judaea to its greatest prominence and prosperity.
Download or read book A History of the Jewish War written by Steve Mason and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-02-24 with total page 1406 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A conflict that erupted between Roman legions and some Judaeans in late AD 66 had an incalculable impact on Rome's physical appearance and imperial governance; on ancient Jews bereft of their mother-city and temple; and on early Christian fortunes. Historical scholarship and cinema alike tend to see the conflict as the culmination of long Jewish resistance to Roman oppression. In this volume, Steven Mason re-examines the war in all relevant contexts (such as the Parthian dimension, and Judaea's place in Roman Syria) and phases, from the Hasmoneans to the fall of Masada. Mason approaches each topic as a historical investigation, clarifying problems that need to be solved, understanding the available evidence, and considering scenarios that might explain the evidence. The simplest reconstructions make the conflict more humanly intelligible while casting doubt on received knowledge.
Download or read book The Death of the Past written by J.H. Plumb and published by Springer. This book was released on 1989-06-01 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, J.H. Plumb investigates the way that humankind has moulded the past to give sanction to their institutions of government, their social structure and morality. The past has also been called upon to explain the nature of our destiny in order both to strengthen the objectives of society and to reconcile us to our lot.
Download or read book My Promised Land written by Ari Shavit and published by Random House. This book was released on 2013-11-19 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR “A deeply reported, deeply personal history of Zionism and Israel that does something few books even attempt: It balances the strength and weakness, the idealism and the brutality, the hope and the horror, that has always been at Zionism’s heart.”—Ezra Klein, The New York Times Winner of the Natan Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Ari Shavit’s riveting work, now updated with new material, draws on historical documents, interviews, and private diaries and letters, as well as his own family’s story, to create a narrative larger than the sum of its parts: both personal and of profound historical dimension. As he examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition, Shavit asks difficult but important questions: Why did Israel come to be? How did it come to be? Can it survive? Culminating with an analysis of the issues and threats that Israel is facing, My Promised Land uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present. Shavit’s analysis of Israeli history provides a landmark portrait of a small, vibrant country living on the edge, whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today’s global political landscape.
Download or read book The Whiskey Rebels written by David Liss and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2009-06-16 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America, 1787. Ethan Saunders, once among General Washington’s most valued spies, is living in disgrace after an accusation of treason cost him his reputation. But an opportunity for redemption comes calling when Saunders’s old enemy, Alexander Hamilton, draws him into a struggle with bitter rival Thomas Jefferson over the creation of the Bank of the United States. Meanwhile, on the western Pennsylvania frontier, Joan Maycott and her husband, a Revolutionary War veteran, hope for a better life and a chance for prosperity. But the Maycotts’ success on an isolated frontier attracts the brutal attention of men who threaten to destroy them. As their causes intertwine, Joan and Saunders–both patriots in their own way–find themselves on opposing sides of a plot that could tear apart a fragile new nation.
Download or read book The Sabra written by Oz Almog and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2000-11-28 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sabras were the first Israelis—the first generation, born in the 1930s and 1940s, to grow up in the Zionist settlement in Palestine. Socialized and educated in the ethos of the Zionist labor movement and the communal ideals of the kibbutz and moshav, they turned the dream of their pioneer forebears into the reality of the new State of Israel. While the Sabras made up a small minority of the new society’s population, their cultural influence was enormous. Their ideals, their love of the land, their recreational culture of bonfires and singalongs, their adoption of Arab accessories, their slang and gruff, straightforward manner, together with a reserved, almost puritanical attitude toward individual relationships, came to signify the cultural fulfillment of the utopian ideal of a new Jew. Oz Almog’s lively, methodical, and convincing portrayal of the Sabras addresses their lives, thought, and role in Jewish history. The most comprehensive study of this exceptional generation to date, The Sabra provides a complex and unflinching analysis of accepted norms and an impressive appraisal of the Sabra, one that any examination of new Israeli reality must take into consideration. The Sabras became Palmach commanders, soldiers in the British Brigade, and, later, officers in the Israel Defense Forces. They served as a source of inspiration and an object of emulation for an entire society. Almog’s source material is rich and varied: he uses poems, letters, youth movement and army newsletters, and much more to portray the Sabras’ attitudes toward the Arabs, war, nature, work, agriculture, cooperation, and education. In any event, the Sabra remained central to the founding myth of the nation, the real Israeli, against whom later generations will be judged. Almog’s pioneering book juxtaposes the myths against the realities and, in the process, limns a collective profile that brilliantly encompasses the complex forces that shaped this remarkable generation.
Download or read book Architecture of Herod the Great Builder written by Ehud Netzer and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2008-10 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading Israeli archaeologist surveys the architecture and urban design of Herod the Great, one of the most famous builders of the biblical world.
Download or read book Antiquities of the Jews Book XV written by Flavius Josephus and published by Alpha Edition. This book was released on 2021-12-16 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book, "" Antiquities of the Jews; Book - XV "", has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies and hence the text is clear and readable.
Download or read book The Mormon Candidate written by Avraham Azrieli and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While investigating the murder of a Marine veteran at a motorcycle rally, reporter Ben Teller infiltrates the Mormon Temple and uncovers a dark secret that could determine the U.S. presidential elections.Initial Readers' Reviews on Amazon.com:5.0 out of 5 stars Great Political Thriller, July 23, 2012By T.J. D "TJ" (IN United States)The Mormon Candidate by Avraham Azrieli is a fast-paced political thriller that will have you wanting to turn the page until the very end.The book takes readers past politics and into the world of the Mormon Church. It is an eye-opening discovery of just what the church is about and why they choose to stay so secretive.While many political thrillers tend to rehash the same clichés, this book goes beyond a typical political thriller to provide the reader with a new angle. The Mormon Candidate is well written, and more importantly, well researched to present a realistic picture of the Mormon Church. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves political thrillers, but also to those who just love to read a good story.5.0 out of 5 stars Unexpectedly Good, July 22, 2012By heapI have to admit, I didn't think I'd enjoy this book; I practically knew nothing about Mormons, and all the books I've read on the same genre usually involve the Catholic Church. However, "The Mormon Candidate" was a surprisingly fresh and exciting take on politics and religion; I just had to finish it right away. Fluid and always interesting, this book just reeled me in with its unexpected twists, drama, and characters who are described so vividly I could imagine them next to me.5.0 out of 5 stars Keeps Your Fingers Crossed Till The End, July 21, 2012By Jude HickmannIt's been long time that I felt fully satisfied after reading a book. I should appreciate the way Avraham unfolds the mystery behind the motorcycle accident, the book is adventurous, and no dip in excitement. I basically have great interest in stories that speak about politics and Avraham exactly triggered this excitement in me. I would feel that all readers, after reading this book, would have experienced the same kind of feeling I had. I would again start reading this book and am sure even if we read multiple times, it will bring the same excitement as in the beginning. Avraham Azrieli had become one of my favorite authors.4.0 out of 5 stars Politically Relevant Action, July 20, 2012By Mitch Wyatt"The Mormon Candidate" is a rare book in that it manages to be both highly entertaining and highly relevant to the current political climate. Ben Teller's unyielding investigation of a suspicious accidental motorcycle death enhances the excitement of the overall story.Azrieli has done a staggering amount of research to make the facts of the book as accurate as possible. All of the scriptures listed, and the descriptions of individual aspects of the church are essentially dead-on.Considering the parallels of the book to real life, absolutely anyone who has any interest in politics or the Mormon Church will quickly find themselves taken away by this interesting story [].5.0 out of 5 stars Dan Brown and James Patterson Collide, July 19, 2012By Penny Brien (Higley, AZ United States)What an amazing story this is. It is the DaVinci Code of the Mormon Church with the James Patterson flair for adventure and mysterious twists. Don't start reading this book unless you have the time to finish it because once you start reading you won't be able to put it down. It enthralls you from the first page and sends you on a roller coaster of adventure.Ben Teller is a tenacious reporter who will just not let go of this story until he has all the answers and the twists and turns have the reader curious to know all the answers as well. Wonderfully well written and worth every bit of time expended in reading it. I would recommend this book to any one who enjoys authors such as Dan Brown, David Baldacci and James Patterson; because Avraham Azrieli is in their league.
Download or read book The Masada Complex written by Howard J. Schwach and published by . This book was released on 2019-09-30 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 92,000-word novel, "The Masada Complex," is a thriller in the mold of Nelson DeMille and Daniel Silva, with lots of drama, a touch of history and a modicum of humor, as well as a glimpse at the impasse between Israel and its Arab neighbors. When retired police detective Dave Rifkin is coerced into taking a trip to Israel with his girlfriend and her Manhattan congregation, he contemplates spending a nice two weeks visiting the historic sites he had always read about - the Western Wall, Masada, Mamshit and the like. What he does not count on is the fact that Jewish nationalists have targeted his tour group for kidnapping and ritual murder in order to start a race war that would force the Arabs out of Israel and turn it once again into a "great Jewish nation." But Rifkin, with his NYPD background, realizes that the group is being surveilled by a man who does not quite fit in. When he sees the same man watching the group at a myriad of tour sites in Israel, and not believing in coincidences, he begins to sense something untoward going on. He mentions his concerns to an Israeli Defense Force officer, who is visiting his grandparents on the tour Thus starts an adventure that takes him and his fellow senior citizen tourists to a missile attack in Eshkol, a kidnapping in East Jerusalem and an IDF rescue from the Masada Fortress plateau, where, 2,000 years before, Jewish Zealots had died at their own hand rather than submit to capture by the Roman Legion. Mixing history with action and adventure, the story moves from Jerusalem to Masada, to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where the terrorists have planted a bomb, and finally, to the Western Wall, the holiest site for Jews, where the adventure ends unexpectedly and violently. A retired teacher and newspaper editor, I am the author of eight books for teenage middle and senior high school students, including a two-volume series of U.S. History books, and one adult novel, "American 587 Heavy," another fact-based novel.
