88 books like To the End of the Land

History is often in the eye of the beholder. There are many histories, not just one. This is true in general and this statement is particularly apt when we discuss the first Arab-Israeli war. When I teach about the conflict, students ask me for an objective account of the war. My answer is that none is in existence but the closest to the truth, in my opinion, is Morris’ account. It is the best book about the war, based on maticulate survey of documents. It provides a thorough explanation of the war in each and every stage.

Morris paid a price for his honesty. I was happy to pave his way into Israeli academia.

I have been teaching from this book for many years. Books about Israel are fraught with bias. Many are post or anti-Zionist. They do not represent Israeli mainstream and the Israeli perception of history. Anita Shapira is Israel’s foremost historian of Zionism who received the Israel Prize, the highest prize Israel confers on its leaders. She describes and explains the emergence of Zionism in Europe against the backdrop of relations among Jews, Arabs, and Turks. Shapira describes the challenges that Zionists had to face in Palestine and from 1948 onwards in the newly established state. Much of her research is based on primary sources: archival sources, including diaries, memoirs, and other documents. This book does an excellent work of explaining Israeli history, politics, and society.

This is a classic book. It explains Jewish life in Palestine that grew and developed as antisemitism grew in Europe to unprecedented heights. The pre-Israel state is called the Yishuv. Lissak, an Israel prize Laureate, and Horowitz who studied at my Oxford College, do a brilliant job in weaving together history, sociology, and political science to explain and narrate the challenges and achievements of Zionists in transforming the Yishuv into a functional state.

I have taught from this book. Moshe Lissak was a dear colleague and friend. We met at Oxford in 1991 and kept in touch almost up until his death. He kindly supported my career.

This is an important collection of essays. It provides state-of-the-art understanding of Israeli society, its history, politics, and sociology. The book is wide-ranging and comprehensive. Its chapters were written by well-known authorities. The book includes important chapters on the Israeli electoral system, the Israeli Arab citizens, state and religion, gender in Israel, the Jewish ethnic divide and ethnic politics in Israel, the political economy of Israeli neoliberalism, Israel’s national security, the military in Israeli politics, political culture and Israeli politics, Israeli institutions and Israel’s position in the world.

I was invited to contribute to this volume but had to decline due to previous commitments.

Although many (even most) historians relegate religion to the periphery of the history of the war, Nichols-Belt shows it to be a critical ingredient of that history. Moreover, although historians who admit the importance of religion to the South’s conduct of the war, most of them focus primarily on the armies in the East. Nichols-Belt shines a light on the just-as-important influence of religion in the armies of the Western theater, specifically the Army of Tennessee.

Even corporate America needs heroes. While Tier One Wild is fiction, it was written by a true hero, Dalton Fury. Fury was the senior ranking officer in the Battle of Tora Bora. He helped author the operation to hunt and kill bin Laden. 

This book, the second in the Raynor series, has the flair of someone who has been there as Fury has been. Its fast moving and includes elements of both redemption and sacrifice. While this would be easy to dismiss as fiction or another war story, readers will be surprised by how applicable the lessons can be in the business world.  

I’ve loved the Gears of War games from the first and have been fascinated by what I consider their unusual take on zombies: the glowing, mutating Lambent. When I discovered there was an accompanying book series, I was ecstatic. I did not expect to find myself in such well-crafted, compelling stories that I’d fall even more in love with the world and its main characters.

The teamwork and brotherhood of Marcus, Dom, and the rest have always been the heart of Gears for me. I love knowing that they'll always stand together no matter what is thrown at them (and wow, is there a lot!). The world is a fascinating blend of the familiar and the fantastical, and the combat sequences are *chef’s kiss* I do love me some explosions. The Lambent attack allies and foes, turning battlefields into chaos and forcing desperate choices. The stakes are juicy, and the… show more.

If I didn't know better, I would think the author was on hallucinogens when he began this series. It is a real hoot! While it follows the adventures of a Centurion, Ben Stiger, in a strange and bizarre world, it veers off into mysticism, magic, fantasy, witchcraft, the supernatural, and just about any other genre you care to name. Stiger is a brave, resourceful, and brilliant leader who has been given command of a company of misfits.

He must hone them into a first-rate combat unit as he attempts to quell a rebellion threatening the existence of the Empire he loves and serves. He journeys through another dimension of space and time with his two companions, an elf and a priest. Weird and engrossing. It is a book you'll pick up and not put down.

Being such a fan of the work of David Gemmell, I was delighted when I found this book and felt like Anthony Ryan had combined an emulation of Gemmell’s style with his own sensibility and pragmatism to create a wonderfully realized world. The characters are brilliantly developed and have a well-defined psychological realism. The magic system feels so distinctive from other fantasy stories I have read, and I loved the way the focus throughout the story splits into three and coalesces smoothly and coherently. I found the theme of religious conflict particularly pertinent.

I was reminded of the movie masterpiece Full Metal Jacket as Vaelin Al Sorna, a new recruit to the Sixth Order, undergoes brutal training and the loss of fellow recruits to find his place in the order in the earlier parts of the story and later in the book we see him put the training into action… show more.

This book is written for 10+ readers and is about two soldiers holding guns.

I enjoyed the obvious visual absurdity of two adults hiding in deep holes on opposing pages. As the story progresses, it becomes obvious they’ve been taught by a manual to believe that the other side is a monster, an enemy to be killed. Near the end, when both soldiers are fed up with the whole situation, they venture out of their holes only to discover that the other man is a human being with a family and home just like them! The other man was also taught by a manual to believe a story about someone they’d never met.

In the funny and eminently sensible ending, each of them throws a bottle containing a message into the other’s hole: "Let’s end this war."