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BEN-GURION AND THE HOLOCAUST

Name: BEN-GURION AND THE HOLOCAUST
Author: Shabtai Teveth
ISBN: 0-15-100237-1

by Shabtai Teveth ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1996

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Some truth in advertising is needed here: This is a work not so much about the main founder and leader of the modern state of Israel as it is a record of the entire Jewish Agency Executive (JAE), the de facto governing body of the Jewish community in mandatory Palestine, in trying to rescue Jews for the Nazi death machine. Teveth—author of Ben-Gurion: The Burning Ground (1987), the best biography of the leader to date—spends less time in setting out his subject's record than in attempting to refute the work of other Israeli journalists and historians who argue that he and the JAE were far more focused on nation-building in Palestine than on helping to relieve the terrible plight of European Jewry. In contrast, Teveth unqualifiedly asserts that Ben-Gurion was engaged in ``ceaseless efforts to save Europe's Jews.'' In arguing this hypothesis, he does an excellent job in describing the extremely constricted context in which ``B-G'' and other JAE leaders vainly tried to influence Allied policy: Palestine was a geopolitical ``backwater''; its Jewish population of less than 600,000 lacked arms and was itself gravely threatened by Rommel in North Africa. In addition, the British censored news about the Holocaust and blocked almost all immigration to Palestine. While unearthing a great deal of interesting material, Teveth does not make an entirely convincing case; in fact, he cites several quotes that seem to offer more support to Ben-Gurion's critics than to his defenders. Finally, Teveth simplifies, to the point of misrepresentation, the views of some of B-G's critics, most notably, Israeli journalist and historian Tom Segev. Segev, Teveth claims wrongly, feels that ``Israel, built on the ruins of Europe's Jews and Palestine's Arabs, has no right to exist as a Jewish state.'' This tendentious paraphrasing of Segev's views exemplifies Teveth's generally no-holds-barred defense of Ben-Gurion and the entire JAE, and undermines the presentation of a historical record that is more ambiguous than Teveth would have it.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100237-1

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.