O Jerusalem!

by Larry Collins

Paper Book, 1988

Status

Available

Publication

New York : Simon & Schuster, 1988.

Description

The epic drama of 1948, in which the Arabs and the Jews, heirs to generations of bitter conflict in a land sacred to them both, fought each other for the city of Jerusalem and for the hopes of fulfillment it represented to each. Here, for the first time is an account of that struggle which encompasses the full spectrum of its participants.

Media reviews

Kirkus Reviews
The authors ... recreate the often-told account of [a] beleaguered city, Jerusalem in 1948 ... splicing of man-in-the-street heroics with the drama of backroom politics and diplomacy. ... Collins and Lapierre do not analyze history or draw conclusions from it: what we get is the intersection of
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personal sacrifices, ambitions, and quirks of fate with the realpolitik of governments and the eccentricities of leaders.
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User reviews

LibraryThing member jdiament
An extraordinarily well-made and well-written history of the 1948 Arab-Israel war. Thoroughly researched, the book describes in detail both sides of the conflict; what was happening behind the Israeli lines as well as that which was occurring behind the Arab lines with startlingly little bias. Like
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an Ambrose book, the large-scale stories of cities and countries are intermixed with personal stories of the individuals who populate them. While the book's size and weight may be intimidating, it remains fascinating from start to finish. "O Jerusalem!" is a must read for anyone interested in the modern history of the Israelis or the Arabs.
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LibraryThing member krishnaniyer
This is an awesome book that I carried with me during my trip to Israel. You could walk the narrow lanes across Jerusalem and drive through the ruins across the mountains, the cemetries that fills the pages of this wonderful book. A must read for people who follow history.
LibraryThing member Josh_Hanagarne
Everyone with an interest in the history or future of civilization needs to read this book. Learning about these issues can be a daunting prospect. You might think "I wonder what that Palestine and Israel trouble is all about?" but realize that you've bitten off more than you can chew by turning to
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The Economist.

This is a massive history book that beats the Da Vinci Code (which I hated) for sheer page-turningness. Any of the 100s of stories in O Jerusalem! could their own blockbuster movie.
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LibraryThing member kday_working
A gripping collection of personal perspectives at the time of the founding of Israel in 1948
LibraryThing member Awdhesh
Our present is the projection of the past and our future shall be determined by our actions of today. We all are disturbed by the conflicts of Israel and Philistine and wonder why they can't stop fighting and start living peacefully. If you wish to know why that is not possible, read this book to
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know how the modern Israel was born. O Jerusalem is a wonderful book written after years of research in totally unbiased manner. I believe that history should be read with the view to know the psychology and culture of a nation or a race. Read this book to know the Jews and Arabs mindset and the challenges of their peaceful coexistence.
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LibraryThing member danoomistmatiste
Read this book long, long ago, in the late eighties
LibraryThing member dmmjlllt
**Fantastic**. Excellent example of narrative history. I finished it weeks ago and I'm still thinking about it.

I think the devil hates the Jewish people. Their survival, in the face of **so much suffering** is hard to explain apart from our story.
LibraryThing member SeriousGrace
Critics have called O Jerusalem! "massive" and "epic" in regards to its number of pages, but the scope of its topic O Jerusalem is singular: the year 1948. The year in which British rule ceased in Jerusalem and Arabs and Jews picked up their generations-long battle over the region. Written in four
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parts beginning with November 29th, 1947 to December 20th, 1947, O Jerusalem opens with the General Assembly of the United Nations voting in favor of partitioning Palestine. Joy and dismay alike reverberate through the ancient land. For this is a fate Jewish Jerusalem had prayed for for over two thousand years. That fact alone is staggering. Think of how many generations have lived through this struggle! Their joy reminded me of the Red Sox winning the pennant after 84 years, "Uri Cohen, a biology student at Hebrew University, happily kissed his way from his home to the city center" (p 42).
This reads like a adventure novel. You get to know people (Uri Cohen will come back again, not as happily). As a reader, you will crawl into their lives and almost get inside their heads. This may be massive and epic but you'll hang on every word.
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