My Promised Land

The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel

By: Ari Shavit

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

New York Times best seller

Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times Book Review and The Economist

Winner of the Natan Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award

An authoritative and deeply personal narrative history of the State of Israel, by one of the most influential journalists writing about the Middle East today.

Not since Thomas L. Friedman's groundbreaking From Beirut to Jerusalem has a book captured the essence and the beating heart of the Middle East as keenly and dynamically as My Promised Land. Facing unprecedented internal and external pressures, Israel today is at a moment of existential crisis. Ari Shavit draws on interviews, historical documents, private diaries, and letters, as well as his own family's story, illuminating the pivotal moments of the Zionist century to tell a riveting narrative that is larger than the sum of its parts: both personal and national, both deeply human and of profound historical dimension.

We meet Shavit’s great-grandfather, a British Zionist who, in 1897, visited the Holy Land on a Thomas Cook tour and understood that it was the way of the future for his people; the idealist young farmer who bought land from his Arab neighbor in the 1920s to grow the Jaffa oranges that would create Palestine’s booming economy; the visionary youth group leader who, in the 1940s, transformed Masada from the neglected ruins of an extremist sect into a powerful symbol for Zionism; the Palestinian who as a young man in 1948 was driven with his family from his home during the expulsion from Lydda; the immigrant orphans of Europe’s Holocaust, who took on menial work and focused on raising their children to become the leaders of the new state; the pragmatic engineer who was instrumental in developing Israel’s nuclear program in the 1960s, in the only interview he ever gave; the zealous religious Zionists who started the settler movement in the 1970s; the dot-com entrepreneurs and young men and women behind Tel-Aviv’s booming club scene; and today’s architects of Israel’s foreign policy with Iran, whose nuclear threat looms ominously over the tiny country.

As it examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition, My Promised Land asks difficult but important questions: Why did Israel come to be? How did it come to be? Can Israel survive? Culminating with an analysis of the issues and threats that Israel is currently facing, My Promised Land uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present. The result is 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.

Praise for My Promised Land

“This book will sweep you up in its narrative force and not let go of you until it is done. [Shavit’s] accomplishment is so unlikely, so total...that it makes you believe anything is possible, even, God help us, peace in the Middle East.” (Simon Schama, Financial Times)

“[A] must-read book.” (Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times)

“Important and powerful...the least tendentious book about Israel I have ever read.” (Leon Wieseltier, The New York Times Book Review)

“Spellbinding...Shavit’s prophetic voice carries lessons that all sides need to hear.” (The Economist)

“One of the most nuanced and challenging books written on Israel in years.” (The Wall Street Journal)

©2013 Random House Audio (P)2013 Ari Shavit

Critic reviews

“Shavit's provocative book avoids the clichés typical of some works about the Middle East, and the audio version benefits from Paul Boehmer's superb presentation.” (AudioFile Magazine)

“The most extraordinary book that I’ve read on [Israel] since Amos Elon’s book called The Israelis, and that was published in the late sixties.” (David Remnick)

“Shavit is a master storyteller. [His] retelling of history jars us out of our familiar retrospections, reminds us (and we do need reminders) that there are historical reasons why Israel is a country on the edge.... Required reading for both the left and the right.” (The Jewish Week)

Brilliantly Captured Content - No Words Are Wasted

What did you love best about My Promised Land?

This book shares comprehensive research, opinion and facts, weaving together perspectives from left wing views, right wing views and everything in between. Ari leaves out the sugar coating. It provides raw truths on past, present and the unknown. The book does not dance around white elephants on conflict, Israelis, Iranian global nuclear threat, Palestinians, politics, economy and international opinions. After each chapter, I was armed with information I was not ready to deal with. Brilliantly captured content.

What was one of the most memorable moments of My Promised Land?

Access to the people he interviews for the book. He writes to uncover facts, truths and is not afraid to ask uncomfortable questions and he actually reports his findings. In every chapter I am shocked on what he shares. Ari's journalist gift, peacenik beginnings, birthplace and his family background, puts him in a unique position to convey such powerful inside stories to the reader. His questioning comes from a deep place of understanding, frustration, fear and triumph.

What about Paul Boehmer’s performance did you like?

Just loved his voice. The perfect cast. Sample audio does not do it justice. Paul begins the chapters speaking fast and as the depth of the stories progress, there is sarcasm, despair and delight in his voice.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes, I was almost in tears listening to the harsh beginnings, suffering and despair. Towards the end, my heart fell into my stomach. The ending leaves you in a pensive thought, I wanted at least one more chapter.

Any additional comments?

He explains brilliantly how and why the middle east conflict and life is complex and where the hope for peace stands. Forget about Self Help books - listen to this and you will learn about decades of hope, anguish, luck, faith and courage from both Israelis and Palestinians.

Comprehensive and touching

The book covers a wide span of the country's history, leveraging personal stories to make history more real.
It nicely covers several aspects of history providing different points of view, enabling the reader to develop an own opinion.

Terrific

What does Paul Boehmer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mr. Boehmer read the book as if he wrote it. He spoke with a level of passion and urgency this book truly deserves.

Any additional comments?

What a terrific book. Ari Shavit doesn't just tell a factual story about Israel's history and the Arab-Israeli crisis, he tells us an emotional story through his and his family's eyes, the eyes of Arabs, holocaust survivors, and young Jewish Israelis, the latter of which may be oblivious to the true tenuousness of their modern and safe lifestyle. I went into this book with animosity toward Israel's treatment of neighboring Palestinians, and though my disdain remains, I did also leave with a great deal more compassion, understanding and concern for Israel's Jews.

A Must Read For Anyone Fascinated by the Miracle o

If you could sum up My Promised Land in three words, what would they be?

miracle
challenging
dynamic

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ari Shavit, the author, who pulls together the story of modern Israel from a multidimensional perspective and leaves the reader with a sense of excitement, fascination and confidence.

What does Paul Boehmer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Paul Boehmer reads the story with enthusiasm, sincerity and just the right intonations.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes, when author Shavit brings all the varied currents he has elucidated, together, revealing the incredible miracle of modern day Israel and Israelis, he brought tears of admiration and incredible pride, to my eyes.

Any additional comments?

I wish that everyone would read this wonderful book, and especially for anyone who is Jewish , Ari Shavit writes with such depth and intelligence, making sense of a highly complex and challenging situation, and he does so in an interesting and easily readable way. At times his writing is sheer poetry. If you want to gain a real insight into the Israeli psyche, you can do no better than to read Ari Shavit's book: Israel, The Promise.

Compelling and deeply real

With his gorgeous prose, Shavit captures the tragic, tumultuous, vibrant story of a nation on the edge, the story of a people intent on clutching life from death. It’s a story whose end we do not yet know, especially now as Israel faces existential decisions on what price it will pay for nationhood. Either Israel ends the occupation or the occupation will end Israel, Shavit writes. Will the Jewish state live by its moral compass or allow nationalism, and militarism to destroy its soul as it wages a war on the Palestinian people. It is a question Shavit is not afraid to ask. Neither should any Israeli or Jew in the diaspora.

Too important to be ruined by its narration!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I've withheld comment until I had a chance to listen to some samples of Paul Boehmer's narration of other works. In other contexts, he has a terrific voice and style. But this was a mistake - the faux-Israeli accent makes it almost unbearable to listen to, and undermines the content of this important book. As I was listening in my car, I almost had to pull over because I was laughing so hard at the pronunciation of "1936" - the "theerrty" so far back in the throat I thought he would choke. Over and over again. This during the "Arab Uprisings" - not the intended effect, I'm sure.

The irony is that the author himself speaks far better English than the narrator - a richly-intoned, articulate, British-inflected voice.

What did you like best about this story?

If all Israelis - and Palestinians - had a sensibility akin to Shavit, the two nations would surely find a way to coexist peacefully. He holds the remarkable achievement of the Jews in Palestine in perfect tension with its tragic impact on the Palestinian people. Essential reading on the history of this land.

How could the performance have been better?

See above. Really unfortunate. In that this is clearly a reaction many have had, the publisher should strongly consider re-doing the recording.

Do you think My Promised Land needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, just a new recording - same narrator, sans accent. Please consider it - this book is too important to be ruined by its narration.

Personal and illuminating

Ari Shavit provides, with great clarity, a very personal assessment of the history, people and present state of Israel—drawn from primary research, and many interviews of the original players of the events that impacted and impacting Israel politically, socially, militarily, economically. In addition to being a worthwhile read, the Audible performance by Paul Boehmer is superior.

ISRAEL

“My Promised Land” is a masterpiece of modern history, a story of Israel told by an Israeli.

Ari Shavit reveals intertwined truths about Israel and its place in the world. He explores a one-state and two-state solution for peace in the Middle East. Shavit acknowledges Israeli’ ambivalence about Jewish settlement, occupation, and Palestinian ghettoization; Shavit explains how Jewish experience in WWII pervades Israeli’ consciousness. It binds the country together and tears it apart. The binding together comes from the holocaust’s common ancestral experience. The tearing apart comes from Jewish empathy for uprooting and isolating indigenous Palestinians.

A must read to understand Israel and its politics.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

It is a great class in history and politics of a nation very hard to explain.
Still some things are left unexplained but this clears a lot of misunderstandings and assumptions.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Not a NOVEL

What does Paul Boehmer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A good read

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

NOT A NOVEL

Israel explained

This book manages to articulate many of the ideas I have towards Israel, its founding, Zionism, Israeli history and society. A superb analysis of the past, present and future of the Jewish people. The book provides a very useful tool kit to understand the region and the eternal conflict of the land. Entertaining, thoughtful, complete.

This is the first audio book I've ever listened to and I feel I found a new of learning

Great experience