Simon Says Good Night

Simon Says Good Night by Orit Bergman, translated by Annette Appel

A kid plays "simon says" with their animals and other "friends". After one does the action without them saying "simon says", they are sent out to bed. Then the kid goes to bed.

The Wondering Jew: Israel and the Search for Jewish Identity

The Wondering Jew: Israel and the Search for Jewish Identity

This book is an interesting take on religiosity, secularism and the longing for a Jewish identity. The book provides background on Jewish history with the various thinkers. Zionism started as a primarily secular movement to bring together Jewish people. However, they needed buy-in from the Orthodox. This resulted in the orthodox group getting significant influence and control of modern Israel. Today there remain various conflicts between the secular and religious identity. 

Judaism has managed to endure as a significant people and religion for much longer than any of its counterparts. Part of this is due to the study and evolution of the religious teachings. Different interpretations were layered on top of initial writings. These helped the religion adapt to the times. Recently, the orthodox movement has focussed more on keeping to teachings without evolution. The author sees secularism as an attempt to "evolve" Judaism. However, secularists suffer from being too focussed on secularism. They are afraid to look at the past teachings for fear of becoming "religious." There is plenty that both sides can learn from each other. The religion can succeed by adapting to modernity while keeping true to itself. Secularists can be happier by adopting appropriate religion to their life. (The religious tend to be happier.) 

One example that is given is the response to technology. The internet is not mentioned in any Jewish teachings. However, it has a significant impact in our lives. Adopting a "digital sabbath" where people avoid being connected for a day is something that believers and non-believers can adopt.

Jewish identity is different in Israel than in diaspora. In Israel, one is exposed to Judaism all the time. In the diaspora, one needs to work to maintain the Jewish identity. There are different challenges and benefits to each.

Bibi: My Story

Bibi: My Story by Benjamin Netanyahu

You don't have to go very far into this book to understand the way Israel has been responding to Gaza. Netanyahu has grown up as a strong supporter of Israel. Growing up, he lived for two stints in the United States. However, is love was for Israel. He served in the elite part of the Israeli military, and participated in many special operations. His brothers also served, with one dying in a hostage rescue situation. He views Israel as the Jewish homeland. The Jewish have lived there for Millenia. The Arabs had come in a few centuries ago to colonize the land. "Palestinian" was a term to refer to the Jewish residents of the area. The Arabs had later adopted it as their own. He sees the best peace solution as something that starts with the greater Arab world. The residents of Gaza and the west bank may follow.

Aside from the politics, he covers much of his history and his unexpected rise to political power. We also get an understanding of the complex mess that is Israeli politics. 

The Modern Scholar: The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Truth behind the Mystique

The Modern Scholar: The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Truth behind the Mystique by Lawrence H. Schiffman

There is as much mythology as fact involved with the Dead Sea Scrolls. There was some knowledge of the scrolls before they came to light. A boy did discover them when exploring will wandering in the area - however, he was of a family of relic hunters. The scrolls do have early Jewish history with Messianic prophecies. However, there is no identification of the New Testament data there. The "scrolls" are actually primarily fragments in various conditions.

The Dead Sea Scrolls do give us a view of a Jewish sect from a few millennia ago. They had many of the same records of the Old Testament. The condition was fairly similar to what we have today. They also had their own commentary and historical views. The scrolls allow us to view the society as they saw themselves back then without the interference of historical change. This provides interesting insights that are interesting to Jews and Christians. The professor in these lectures is clearly excited about the scrolls and presents a "big picture" view of some of the scrolls and what they can tell us, without going into excessive detail.

Digging Up Armageddon: The Search for the Lost City of Solomon

Digging Up Armageddon: The Search for the Lost City of Solomon by Eric H. Cline

Eric Cline has written many other books that describe details of ancient civilizations that archeologists have discovered. In this book, he focuses instead on the archeologists themselves. The focus is on the dig for "the lost city of Solomon". The site had many layers of artifacts, some of which are still being uncovered. 

Most of the work done was done between the world wards by Rockefeller-funding groups from the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. These had plenty of problems working together. This is to be expected with people traveling across the world to spend huge amounts of time together working with others. Some people didn't get along. Others had extreme prejudices. Others were just a product of their time. Wives would often accompany the men, but did not do much work until the end. Some people just did not get along with each other. There were mixtures of local workers with out of towners. Great discoveries were made, but there were also plenty of mistakes made. The work came to an abrupt close due to World War II. The return was prevented by looting and damage to the site. 

The book was not what I had expected. It does, however provide a counterpoint to the archeology of Indiana Jones. These guys were working at the same time, but not quite the same glamor of those in the movie.

The Modern Scholar: The History of Ancient Israel: From the Patriarchs Through the Romans

The Modern Scholar: The History of Ancient Israel: From the Patriarchs Through the Romans by Eric H. Cline

The land of Israel has been fought over for a long millenia. In Jewish people have documented their experience extensively in the Hebrew Bible. However, there focus was on the religious message rather than the historical details. Many events occurred long before they were documented. The stories were told primarily to promote religious belief. How much can be relied on as historical fact? Scholars have been all over the place on the factuality, with some saying it is purely allegorical, while others treating it more literally. Eric Cline comes down in the middle. There may be some of both. 

We have found a few records corresponding to some events. However, it may be impossible to validate the historicity of events. The area has been built up numerous times. Some areas are also forbidden to sacred and important to be dug up by archeologists. The Dead Sea scrolls have provided some help. There may also be connections between Christianity and the "mystery religions" of Rome.

Jews, God, and History

Jews, God, and History by Max I. Dimont

This book shows the history of the Jews in context of the greater world. The Jews developed a strong culture, but never developed a lasting civilization. This may be part of the reason why they have survived so long. They have been able to live in many civilizations and take active roles. There were backgrounds in Jewish sects that would later be the roots of Christianity. Similar Jewish influences can be found in Islam. The religion has changed and adapted with the times, while keeping many constants and a strong affinity. 

Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn

This "concise" history is a 16 hour audiobook. It isn't exactly "concise", but is a good length for what it covers. The book doesn't try to discuss the early history of Israel, instead focussing on modern Israel and the background that caused it to arise. 

A century ago, Jews were facing escalating persecution. A dedicated homeland seemed the ideal solution. There were still debates as to whether it should be a Jewish state, or a Jewish population in an existing state. The location was also up for grabs. Argentina and the historic Israel (which was part of the of the Ottoman empire) were the leaders. Theodor Herzl was an intellectual leader of Zionism. 

Jewish immigration started to take place under the Ottomans and later the British mandates. However, even these groups were limited. Many immigrant ships were turned away during the rise of fascism in Europe. Jews fleeing persecution were turned away from both American and Middle Eastern locations. This further demonstrated the need for a Jewish homeland. (Israel would later adopt a policy that any Jew could freely settle in Israel - and they used the same "blood" test that the Nazi's used for identifying Jews.)

Israel had a diverse population of Jews from all over the world. The European Jews has thought of themselves as superior. However, Jews from everywhere were permitted. This policy encouraged many of the most persecuted or least well to do Jews to immigrate. Often, even the well-to-do immigrants would have difficulty coming in with their assets. This did result in some issues as some non-European Jews felt like they were second class citizens. The most significant Jewish group that is missing is American Jews - they tend to be most comfortable staying in the US.

 Israel took some time to adopt an identity. Many initial immigrants were "back to the earth" communal farmers. Later immigrants changed the character. The boundaries, population and even religious character of the country were continually evolving. Politically, there are many parties and a degree of coalition building is required. The policies have changed as different leaders assumed the mantle. There was significant criticism when Israel accepted German reparations. (Though these reparations arrived at a time of great need for Isreal.)

Israel had conflicts from the get-go. The Arab community didn't like the idea of Israel's existence. There were divisions in Jewish leadership as to whether freedom should be gained on the battlefield or diplomacy. The battlefield hand was forced. Israel had some unexpected success in repelling the initial Arab attacks. This led to some cockiness that nearly led to the defeat in the Yom Kippur war.

Jews have a significant degree of self reflection. They analyze the mistakes and attempt to grown from them.  The Palestinian situation is difficult. As a democracy, Israel wants to make sure there are not too many Arabs to outvote the Jewish population. The status of Arabs are accidents of the past. A family may be split between Israeli Arabs and Palestinian refugees. Many Arab countries in the region would like to have Israel out of the picture. However, they don't want to take responsibility for Palestine and the refugees. They find it more valuable to use Palestinians as propaganda tools than to actually try to improve the condition of the Palestinians. Anti-semitism can easily be disguised as "Palestinian rights".  

The author notes that Israel is the one place where people speak the same language and practice the same location that they did 3000 years ago. It is a significant "restoration". Israel has grown and had a great success. However, there remains significant danger and volatility.  This book is a good history of the the last century from a moderate pro-Israel perspective. 

A History of the Jews

Paul Johnson's History of the Jews is hampered by a less-than ideal narration of the audiobook. It is a long history, covering the entire history of the Jews, from the biblical times to modern Israel. However, the coverage is more focussed on modern times (as more data is available.) The Jews have held together after significant times. Christianity sprung out of Judaism. Islam was also had Jewish ties. (The author proposes that there was an attempt to bring a monotheistic religion to the Arabs. The difference ended up being too great to be supported by the Jews, and thus a new religion was needed.) There have been additional modern variation of Judaism, yet they have not separated out into different religions.

Jews have historically been very literate and have significant impact in urban areas and learned careers. They have often been discriminated against, but still tolerated out of need. (Interpretations of prohibitions of usury had led to Jews being the money lenders.) Despite (and perhaps because of) the significant role of Jews in society, they have been forced out to ghettos and even exterminated. Yet, they have continued to be resilient. Jews were drawn to Marxism. When they were prohibited from integrating with Russian Marxists, they did it on their own (and thus became key Zionists) In Germany, Jews were among the chief intellectuals and scientists. Germany was one of the most educated society, yet still became prejudiced towards Jews and spawned the haulacost. 

The end of World War II was one of the few points that a Jewish could be supported by European powers. There was guilt from the treatment during the war and  policy hadn't turned fully towards local determination. The state of Israel was created. The state of Palestine was refused. Israel settled Jewish refugees. The Arab countries never settled the Palestinian refugees, and they remain multi-generational refugees.

At times, Jews have been the vanguard of humanity. At other times, they have appeared to be backwards traditionalists. They have survived and played a significant role in society despite their small numbers.

Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth

Israel is an interesting, misunderstood location. It is not a purely Jewish state, though it is overwhelmingly Jewish. There are people practicing different religions freely in the country. There are also Arabs and other ethnicities living there with full rights.

The region that Israel occupied had been claimed as a Jewish homeland a few thousand years ago. However, for the past few millennia it had been been a backwater province of various empires. The land was less than ideal and was occupied by various people that had primary affinity to their local group. There was no state in the region and almost no regional identity. In the early 1900s, Zionism took root. Jews fled persecution in Europe and moved to the region.  They bought land from the local residents and some set up communal living situations. (They had adopted many of the Russian communist beliefs.)

In the late Britain abandoned the region and the UN proposed two states - one for Jews and one for the others in the region. The Jews agreed to their state. The nearby Arab countries would have nothing of that and refused to accept the Jewish state. They also proceeded to immediately attack to the new country of Israel. The Arabs lost. Much of that land still remains in a state of limbo. It has been controlled by various parties in the region, but has for the most part remained stateless.

Pakistan is an interesting parallel to Israel. It was formed around the same time as Israel. After the formation, there was a significant exodus of non-Muslim residents from their native land. The Hindu population went from well over 13% of the population to just over 0% of the population. Laws have significantly impact on human rights. In Israel, a quarter of the population is non-Jewish, with more human rights.

There remain many groups that seek the annihilation of Jews and Israel. Often these operate under the auspices of "Palestinian rights". They have been able to influence youth to adopt their cause in the name of "human rights" (Even though the endgame would result in loss of rights for many.) They have criticized "apartheid regimes" in the West Bank and refused to allow investment in the region. This has hurt the economy and occupants of those occupied territories, but not impacted Israel. 

The UN has supported multigenerational refugees. Palestinian rulers have been unwilling to follow through on steps for peace. Leaders have often become rich while collecting aid money. Gaza has adopted a form of fundamentalist Sharia law. Neither Egypt nor Israel wants Gaza. However, the area has not done well on self rule. It is still heavily reliant on aid.

The author of this book advocates a liberal pro-Zionism viewpoint. Jews were being attacked. They returned to their homeland and built up a successful state. Would there be such conflict if it were a backwater orthodox theocracy?  Israel has made plenty of mistakes, but it has also been highly successful on the world stage. The country is secular, with respect for different religions.  Orthodox Judaism is actual a challenge in the region. The Orthodox are exempt from military service, rely heavily on welfare and have huge families. Will they dominate the country?  Most of the Jews and Arabs in the region have no problems with each other. However, the extremist, especially those supported by outsiders have created many problems.

Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices

Under Ottoman rule, Islam had spread through the Middle East, but there was significant poverty. The Muslim Brotherhood arose as a social organization to benefit Arabs and help encourage improved religious experience. The British control and then the state of Israel significantly upended life in Palestine. Many people lived was refugees, hoping to some day return or be compensated for their land. Hamas grew out of the Muslim Brotherhood. It advocated a more conservative religious practice and grew to encourage violent resistance to Israel.

The author of this book was the son of one of the founders of Hamas. He had great respect for the Islamic ideals of his father. However, he became deeply disturbed as the group began to advocate violence. He had gone to a Christian school and gradually began to adopt Christianity. He and his family had been targeted by Israel numerous times. At one time, they proposed he be a secret agent for Israel. He had imagined being a double agent, but gradually warmed towards working with the Israelis. He served as a spy in order to help prevent violence. However, he eventually soured of it. He didn't like causing the deaths of others (even if the others were planning to be suicide bombers.) He also felt he could not live normally. Eventually, he left to the United States.

The middle east conflict is complicated. There are some perverse incentives involved. Palestinian leaders can benefit from international aid and prestige by not accepting peace. Hardliners would rather keep things in the current state than give up anything for peace. The war is fought as much in the realm of public opinion as on the battlefield. The leaders of Hamas were willing to let civilians die just to make it appear "bad" in the media. (He even documents some "staged" attacks.)  Jews were persecuted in Europe. Now they are persecuting in the Middle East. Palestinians have been persecuted by the Israelis. However, when given some autonomy, they fight amongst themselves. There are internal challenges among the people that must be addressed for true peace.  

Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History

This history of Palestine focuses on providing historical references to the name "Palestine" and the various cities as a counter to Israeli Zionism. There are bits and pieces of actual history that show up in the process, but they get lost in the anti-Zionism. This book fails as both a history and an anti-Zionism work.

The first part of the book spends an undue amount of time focusing on history of the name "Palestine". There are various sources quoted that record the name Palestine. There are some variants of the name and geography, but it generally refers to the same area. I suppose the author must feel this is important for his argument. Alas, with the different languages and the way languages change over millennia, this seems somewhat irrelevant.

There is discussion of the history of the land. The author sees the Old Testament as a book of legends. He feels much more confident of the mentions in Herodotus. (Alas, his reliability is also questioned.)  Palestine has had a rich history including with various populations and religious traditions through its history. Christians, Muslims and Jews had lived there, with the area under Islamic rule for much of the last Millennium. 

The author criticises many of the Zionist as being Europeans that had no claim to the land. They created a new language (Modern Hebrew) and adopted new names. They pushed out the resident population and changed the names of cities. (The book contains a long catalogue of changed names.) The author sees them all as colonizers that pushed out the mostly rural peasants to create their new kingdom. I just wish the book could have spent more time on history and less on modern counter-arguments. 

The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories

From the title alone, it is clear on what side of the Israel Palestine debate the author falls. Israel is seen as violating international law and committing war crimes as the Palestinians are "imprisoned" . The prison sometimes switches between maximum security and minimum security but remains a prison. Israel wants to control the land. However, they want to ensure that they have a Jewish majority. Leaving the Palestinian lands in this occupied status helps them keep their means. They have moved on from the "ethnic cleansing" to imprisonment. 

The story of Israel can be seen as a reminder of what can happen when giving the oppressed control. Israel was the historical homeland of the Jews. However, it had been controlled and inhabited by Arabs for centuries. After the atrocities of the holocaust, the European powers thought it appropriate to let them have the land as a homeland. (The Zionists had already been working towards this for an extended time.) The Jewish residents wanted to make sure they maintained control and were extremely paranoid about losing this control. They have exercised various means to keep this control, leaving the second-class Palestinians. It has shown the impossibility of writing a past wrong without creating many new wrongs.

I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity

I saw a recent interview with the author of this book and he is mad. The situation in Gaza is horrible. He wants the humanitarian crisis to end now. He says that 25 family members have been killed. Can he still advocate for peace and reconciliation at a time when Hamas and Israel are trading fire?

He has managed to maintain a calm head during difficult conditions. He grew up in a refugee camp. There he was second to the "long term residents". He eventually chose to study medicine. He lived through travel challenges, but was able study in Egypt and eventually do training and work in a hospital in Egypt. He treated Israelis and saw Israelis treat Palestinians. There was a desire to work together for humanity.

He also had to endure challenges. He missed some of his wife's final days due to delays in border crossing. He had children killed by Israeli bombardment of his house. He managed to still love his neighbor even when encountering great grief. However, he did realize that the best way to continue to care for his family was to leave Gaza. He settled in Canada.

He still has some palpable anger at the situation. However, he tries to focus it on the overall, while still respecting individuals. He has had some advantages over regular Gazans in his life. (His relationships allowed some of his children to get Israeli medical care after the shelling, while others may not have received it.) The Gaza situation is a difficult one wihtout any direct answers. Both sides have concerns and have committed atrocities. More respect needs to be in place before a solution can be acheived.

The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine

​Despite attempts at peace, it seems violence is the only language that leads to progress in the Israel/Palestine relationship. The sides may attempt to blame each other. However, both sides have been guilty of using violence to further their goals. In the early days, Israel had forcibly evicted Palestinians after negotiations stalled. Palestinians have responded with further violence. There is little incentive for either side to give in. They each have various allies (that are often changing.) Palestine has been promised to various Arab countries as well as claimed by Israel. There is a hot-potato situation that doens't have an easy solution.

Drinking the Sea at Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land Under Siege

An Israeli lived in the Gaza strip and wrote about her experiences and the life of the people there. I was hoping for more "day in the life" of those in Gaza. However, she aligned closely with the activists, and thus the focus was more on the activist experience. Is everyone an activist? Or is this a very narrow subset of the population? It was not until the end, that there was more of a focus on the regular life experience. Family has become very important. Other parts of life come and go. The borders are periodically sealed off. (This can be especially problematic since it is a small area disconnected from the remainder of Palestine.) Police intervene in life. There are problems with corruption on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides. Infrastructure is not well developed. Taxes and red tape can be high. There are few natural resources and high poverty rates. Job prospects are mostly with the government or in Israel. The culture has been getting more conservative, with greater respect for traditional female homemakers and Islamic lifestyle. There are a many challenges without easy solutions. 

Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle

A book like Start-Up Nation takes great risks in drawing broad conclusions from a narrow span of time. Israel has had a few decades of great growth and entrepreneurial activity. However, there were a previous few decades of slow growth. Was this growth spurt a revision to the mean or something lasting? 

The military is an important part of Israeli life. Everyone must spend time in the military unless they have a specific exemption (such as religious orthodoxy.) The armed services serve as a special training ground. People get opportunities to be creative and lead. The country faces existential threats with a low-resourced military. This gives the youth many opportunities to master skills of doing more with less independently. They also develop relationships in the service that carry forward to their reserve activities. 

Other countries, such as Korea and Singapore have mandatory military service, yet they do not have the same entrepreneurial activity. The author speculates it is cultural. The Asian countries tend to be very subservient to authority, while Israelis will actively question rulers. Even Israeli political leaders are often referred to by common nicknames.

Israel went through a fairly unique formation process. It was a "restoration" of a state that had not existed for a few Millennia. The people had been greatly persecuted (with the holocaust happening immediately before Israeli independence. The neighbors are also extremely hostile towards Israel. It is not easy to survive. Yet, the new country has survived and thrived. The Jewish population has regularly been active participants in culture and the economy. There has often been criticism due to Jewish overrepresentation. Could it be Israel's success is just do to its Jewishness?

Could it also be that there is just a fluke? Many of Israel's startups are security based. This could be directly related to the importance of security in society. There are also others that seem to be tied directly to Israeli needs (such as irrigation). Despite these many startups, there are few companies that would be pointed out as essential companies or tech behemoths. The book mentions the electric car start up "Better Place". It had buzz, but never made it anywhere. Meanwhile, there are oodles of Teslas around today. Why hasn't Israel been able to create a dominating startup?

The Undoing Project

Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman were both born in Israel and later studied psychology there. Beyond that, they seemed to have little in common. Kahneman lived in France during World War II and had experiences running from Nazis. He tended to be more to himself, while Tversky seemed to know everything and be more social. Once they met, they found they had a great meeting of the minds and were able to achieve more together. They wrote a number of influential papers in their time together. They gradually drifted apart as Tversky received more public recognition. However, he died of cancer, and it was Kahneman that later received the Nobel prize.
Michael Lewis starts The Undoing Project by providing anecdotes of showing the fallacy of human judgement. In sports, picking the right players can have a serious impact on the success of a franchise. However, scouts are prone to use their gut, often missing out on great players. Using data can help avoid some of the human fallacies - but even the data requires some human judgement. The narrative then dives in to the biography of the psychologists.
Both Kahneman and Tversky had a rebellious streak. They didn't fully trust common theories - especially full rationality. People are prone to many biases that allow them to be fooled. When discussing a past event, people often engage in hindsight bias, exaggerating their perceived odds that the event would have occurred. When choosing among multiple items, it is not uncommon for people to prefer A to B, B to C and C to A, seemingly contradicting basic logic. Due to endowment and sunk costs, people are more likely to hold on to something they already have - even though they would never purchase it. The fear of loss is more powerful than the desire for gain. Even if two outcomes are the same, most people would much rather avoid the outcome with loss rather than one with a gain.
The title comes from one of their final works together. What does it take to mentally "undo" something. People experience much more grief if they appear close to gaining something than if they were nowhere near. Missing a winning lottery number by one digit would be traumatic, while missing it by 5 would barely be noticed. However, both cases have the identical outcome of no win. In one, it was just easier to visualize moving over. When undoing events, we often look at the most proximate, easy to visualize causes, even if they are not the most probable.
Knowledge of inbuilt human biases can be used to help improve decision making. However, these same biases can also be used to manipulate people.

Bronze Bow

A Jewish boy (Daniel) vows vengence against the Romans. He joins a band of mountain robbers that are fighting for the cause of freedom. One task he has is to help capture a large slave being transported by some traders. This slave ends up being one of his "burdens" (though he later realizes he is a friend.)

He ends up caring for his disabled sister after her previous caretaker dies. He comes to know life in the town better. He also knows the people who are being hurt by the acts of the robbers. However, he still supports them and their cause of freedom. One day, one of his friends (Joel) is caught. When the leader of the band of robbers refuses to help him, Daniel organizes a group on his own to rescue him. He does it, but at the cost of the black slave and another friend.

During this time, he also meets with Jesus. He marvels at his understanding of doctrine and his simple explanations. He hopes he will be their leader. However, he is not willing to drop the hatred that he feels towards the Romans.

His sister had made great progress towards normalcy. However, it turns out she had been talking with a homesick Roman legion. This drove Daniel nearly to the breaking point. He wanted to kill the Roman to seek his revenge. This hatred, however, nearly led to the death of his sister. Finally at the end of the story, after his sister has been healed by Jesus he gets the courage to forgive the Roman and let him know about his sister.

The story provides the powerful contrast between the force of hatred and the force of love. The Roman legion was also serving from a conquered land. He was just a normal person with normal emotions. Daniel's hatred made it difficult for him to see through the uniform to the person beneath.

Daniel observed that some people may not really want to be healed from their ailments. (Perhaps the blind man would be disturbed by what he would see.) However, he failed to see the same with his country's condition. (The Romans were rather benign rulers and their overthrow could leave somebody even worse in power.) The blinders of hatred can cause bad things to happen and end up destroying the hater even more than the target of their vengeance.

The Much Too Promised Land

[November 2009] The author has been very involved in the Arab-Israeli peace process through the administration of various US presidents. He is able to tell a fairly non-partisan tale of the good and the bad of presidents from Nixon to Bush Jr. This detailed personal knowledge of the peace process players is also the book's downfall. There is too much information about the people, personal relationships and negotiating conditions. At times it drifts in to minutia of the author's experience that would be more appropriate in a personal memoir than in the general history it purports to be.