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rozydozy's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
I learnt a lot about historiography and nation-building in Israel. I would have liked to have read a bit more about some more of the external factors that influenced the development of the national consciousness, as well as the attitudes of ‘ordinary’ people (there is more of that later in the book than at the beginning and in the middle), but it was a really fascinating read nonetheless.
ollie_again's review
The combination of the writing, which is pretty dense and the content, which requires a stronger familiarity with the Old Testament, results in me not taking almost any information in while reading. So it's counterproductive for me to keep on reading further.
youssefhassan13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.75
Very informative about Jewish history and how the idea of a nation for the Jews is built from history and myths. While it’s talking about the Jewish nationalism, it makes you wonder about all kinds of myths for all the nations. Absolute must read if you’re interested in Jewish history, the middle east and Palestine/Israel conflict.
tittypete's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty academic book that analyzes what a 'people' is. Turns out there might be some widely accepted misconceptions about certain groups of folks. I'll leave it at that. Interesting.
elfianna's review against another edition
3.0
Viele, die dieses Buch gelesen haben, finden es entweder zu gut oder sind einfach nur zutiefst antizionistisch und freuen sich, dass ihnen Shlomo Sand vermeintlich wissenschaftliche Argumente liefert. Shlomo Sands Argumentation ist durchaus faszinierend und auch nachvollziehbar (bis zu einem gewissen Grad). Außerdem kann er im Gegensatz zu manch Anderen, die in der Wissenschaft arbeiten, schreiben. Das heißt aber noch lange nicht, dass er immer Recht hat. Teilweise generalisiert er genauso sehr, wie die Leute, die er als Rassisten bezeichnet. Ihm scheint manchmal nicht einzufallen, dass seine Argumente gefährlicherweise dazu genutzt werden könnten, Israel das Existenzrecht abzusprechen. Ein interessantes Buch, ein gutes Buch, in sehr unreflektierten Händen, jedoch ein sehr sehr gefährliches Buch. Kein Wunder, dass es so polarisierte.
nad12's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
4.5
Tout le monde devrait lire ce livre ça devrait être obligatoire tant c’est instructif et important. J’ai appris tellement de choses et c’est expliqué de façon si pédagogique, rigoureuse et méthodique. Une lecture majeure qui s’impose à tous ceux qui veulent comprendre l’essence historique du sionisme et ses conséquences dramatiques sur la Palestine.
dithorba's review against another edition
This book is rather dense and I do not feel equipped at the moment to absorb it.
gorgeousgirl's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
a genealogy of the idea of a unified, discrete & continuous group of Jewish people, as an unbroken chain of an ancient biblical ethnos upon which Israel/Zionism is founded. it's obviously written for an audience with much more familiarity with the bible & Jewish history, so a lot of details were lost on me. but as a layman it helped me to understand the broad strokes of how European notions of nations, states, eugenics, race & anti-Semitism influence the Zionism employed in the creation of the settler-colonial apartheid in Israel today
maybe i've read this wrong, but Sand presents very disappointing recommendations to solve the problem of the Israeli ethnostate. he offers a more democratic Israel & a more inclusive Israeli identity, one that includes Palestinians, rather than considering any efforts towards decolonization and/or reparation at all. it might not be in his capacity to do so as a historian, or in this book's capacity as the history of an idea, but it ended on a very lukewarm, if not sour note
maybe i've read this wrong, but Sand presents very disappointing recommendations to solve the problem of the Israeli ethnostate. he offers a more democratic Israel & a more inclusive Israeli identity, one that includes Palestinians, rather than considering any efforts towards decolonization and/or reparation at all. it might not be in his capacity to do so as a historian, or in this book's capacity as the history of an idea, but it ended on a very lukewarm, if not sour note