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SHAIOM MEANS PEACE by Robert St. John

SHAIOM MEANS PEACE

By

Pub Date: Jan. 31st, 1949
Publisher: Doubleday

There is a reasonably dependable market for Robert St. John...There is a growing market for books on Israel. This should command both markets, though there have been more important books on Israel (or rather on the Palestine situation) and better books by St. John....Nonetheless, this is thoroughly readable, a human, personal portrait of the people who have performed- and are performing- the miracle of sacrifice and achievement, which has made Israel not a question mark, but a going concern. St. John has told the story episodically, through anecdote, interview, story of these men and women, boys and girls- refugees from war torn Europe, from concentration camps, seeking the promised land Americans, fighting a cause for the ideal they envision, adventurers, caught by the contagious enthusiasm of the new frontier. Both sides of the bitter beach battle of the Atalena; underground operations, smuggling of men and arms, Irgunists, Zionists, city dwellers and villagers, agriculturists, those living in cooperatives,- all these and more find voice through a sympathetic listener and interpreter. Passion for a common cause-despite disunity within the ranks on procedure; a tolerance towards enemies, whether Arab or British or Egyptian; a desire for one thing Shalom- Peace- a chance to be let alone to develop as planned -- all these aspects find expression here. This is not a polemic, nor a political treatise; it is a portrait of a new and young and ardent people.