Bestselling new analysis of Jewish history by a leading Israeli historian
Shlomo Sand teaches Contemporary History at the University of Tel Aviv. His books include The Invention of the Jewish People, On the Nation and the Jewish People, How I Stopped Being a Jew, The Invention of the Land of Israel, and Twilight of History.
Israel's Declaration of Independence states that the Jewish people
arose in the Land of Israel and was exiled from its homeland. Every
Israeli schoolchild is taught that this happened during the period
of the Roman rile, in 70 CE. The nation remained loyal to its land,
to which it began to return after two millennia of exile. Wrong,
says the historian Shlomo Sand, in one of the most fascinating and
challenging books published here in a long time. There was never a
Jewish people, only a Jewish religion, and the exile also never
happened-hence there was no return.
*Haaretz*
The reader will have understood the message: what this
well-documented and fearless book explodes is the myth of a unique
Jewish people, miraculously preserved, in contrast to all the other
peoples, from external contamination ... [Sand's] conclusions,
which are prudently formulated, nonetheless lead one towards a sole
solution: the construction of a secular and democratic Israel.
*Le Nouvel Observateur*
Shlomo Sand has written a remarkable book ... Anyone interested in
understanding the contemporary Middle East should read it.
*Tony Judt, author of Postwar: A History of Europe Since
1945*
The Invention of the Jewish People is an indispensable challenge
and a very complex intellectual exercise ... a more secure society
[than Israel] would include the book in the core curriculum of its
school system.
*Avraham Burg, former Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel,
Yedioth Ahronoth*
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