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nothingforpomegranted's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
2.75
Vladimir Jabotinsky is a complicated figure in early Zionism, greatly appreciated for his dexterity with language and frequently lambasted for his aggressive views and suggested policies. A Russian novelist and journalist with an impressive capacity for incorporating his own life and views into his characters, Jabotinsky was a secular Jew, disconnected from ritual, but intensely passionate about peoplehood, growing into a belief that much of European antisemitism was based on a kernel of truth in Jewish distinctness that necessitated Zionism and the establishment of a safe Jewish homeland in Palestine.
As described by Halkin in this book, Jabotinsky's pursuit of this goal was an intense one, regularly leading to conflict with other early Zionist figures over Jabotinsky's unwillingness to compromise. The Jewish homeland, Jabotinsky believed, must be in Palestine, which would have to be wrested by force from its Arab inhabitants, and it needed a Jewish majority for rulership. Furthermore, that Jewish majority should, in Jabotinsky's contrarian view, be composed of far fewer agrarian socialists and far more business-savvy traders and intellectuals who were so prominent among European Jewry.
I am, admittedly, not super well-read on early Zionist and Israeli history. I know Jabotinsky mostly as the name of a street nearby and little about his life. I've loved biographies since I was a little girl ploughing through my elementary school library, but I'm not convinced this is appropriately classified as one. This snapshot of Jabotinsky's life is a concise exploration of how his Zionism developed and how he navigated seeming contradictions in his views and his life. Certainly interesting and engaging, I found myself wishing for more as I was reading, and not in a great way. Jabotinsky enters the book as a nearly fully-formed adult, post-university with strong beliefs that I didn't quite understand. As those beliefs began to change and Jabotinsky began to interact with other figures whose names I recognized but couldn't tell the stories of, I felt increasingly disoriented and disappointed.
I am newly fascinated by Jabotinsky, and I would love to read his writings, which I though Halkin did a fabulous job of teasing and summarized, but I can't say I finished the book with a lot of confidence in understanding Jabotinsky's policies and how they changed. I would be interested in another biography on this leading Zionist character, and I'm disappointed that this was the first in twenty years to have been published in English. For now, I'll make do with the bits I grasped from the book and the Wikipedia summaries.
As described by Halkin in this book, Jabotinsky's pursuit of this goal was an intense one, regularly leading to conflict with other early Zionist figures over Jabotinsky's unwillingness to compromise. The Jewish homeland, Jabotinsky believed, must be in Palestine, which would have to be wrested by force from its Arab inhabitants, and it needed a Jewish majority for rulership. Furthermore, that Jewish majority should, in Jabotinsky's contrarian view, be composed of far fewer agrarian socialists and far more business-savvy traders and intellectuals who were so prominent among European Jewry.
I am, admittedly, not super well-read on early Zionist and Israeli history. I know Jabotinsky mostly as the name of a street nearby and little about his life. I've loved biographies since I was a little girl ploughing through my elementary school library, but I'm not convinced this is appropriately classified as one. This snapshot of Jabotinsky's life is a concise exploration of how his Zionism developed and how he navigated seeming contradictions in his views and his life. Certainly interesting and engaging, I found myself wishing for more as I was reading, and not in a great way. Jabotinsky enters the book as a nearly fully-formed adult, post-university with strong beliefs that I didn't quite understand. As those beliefs began to change and Jabotinsky began to interact with other figures whose names I recognized but couldn't tell the stories of, I felt increasingly disoriented and disappointed.
I am newly fascinated by Jabotinsky, and I would love to read his writings, which I though Halkin did a fabulous job of teasing and summarized, but I can't say I finished the book with a lot of confidence in understanding Jabotinsky's policies and how they changed. I would be interested in another biography on this leading Zionist character, and I'm disappointed that this was the first in twenty years to have been published in English. For now, I'll make do with the bits I grasped from the book and the Wikipedia summaries.
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