Israel: The Partitioned State (A Political History Since 1900)

398 pp. "Perlmutter has been writing about the Middle East and in particular about Israel for many years. He brings to his subject a wide array of qualifications, including familiarity with the primary and secondary sources and an intimate knowledge of many of Israel's leaders. The first part of this ``political history'' summarizes the history of Zionism and of the yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine before statehood). The second and more original part deals with the period from 1948 to the present. Perlmutter adds a new perspective to our knowledge of Israel, that of Israel as a land subject to one partition after another. His style is authoritative, and he writes well. Jehuda Reinharz, Near Eastern & Judaic Studies Dept."