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Historical dictionary of Israel (3rd edition)

Historical dictionary of Israel (3rd edition) Area studies Reference Reviews Volume 31 · Number 4 · 2017 · 39-40 Librarians will be aware that there is a RR 2017/120 particular difficulty lying in the path of an Historical dictionary of Israel author who wishes to deal with the modern (3rd edition) history and politics of Israel, for the significance of many events in that history is strongly Bernard Reich and David H. Goldberg contested. It thus becomes the duty of the Rowman & Littlefield reviewer to inform readers of the point of view Lanham, MD and London expressed by the author. In this case, it is very clear that (though doing their best to be impartial) the authors interpret history from a lii  727 pp. point of view sympathetic to Israel, and that a ISBN 978 1 4422 7184 5 (print); ISBN 978 1 4422 7185 2 different author, sympathetic to the Palestinians, (e-book) might have treated some of the same events £105 $165 rather differently. Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Leaving this caveat aside, readers will be Oceania and the Middle East impressed by the author’s extensive knowledge Keywords Dictionaries, History, Israel of the complexities of Israeli politics. Much of the complexity seems to arise from the pure Review DOI 10.1108/RR-01-2017-0001 form of proportional representation used in Considering that it is a small country with a elections, which has encouraged numerous, and rather short modern history as an independent frequently changing, parties and groups: over state, Israel has attained an important place in 100 of the entries in the Dictionary deal with world affairs and thus requires of one the larger them, and it is stated that 25 parties contested volumes in the Historical Dictionaries series, the 2015 elections, of which 10 obtained seats. including nearly 900 entries of between 20 and Such results tend to give small parties, including 2,000 words on the people, parties, representatives of religious orthodoxy, more organizations, places, conflicts, conferences and influence than their numbers merit. But, the treaties significant to it. The majority of these authors have not neglected to cover economic naturally deal with events since 1948, although and cultural matters, some of which may come there are some on developments in the region as a surprise to non-specialists. I was unaware, from about 1880; the text is updated to the early for instance, that a quarter of Israel’s exports by part of 2016. value consist of cut diamonds, or that the The supplementary material is in the usual country is the world’s largest exporter of military style of the series, comprising a list of acronyms drones for which Britain is the largest customer. and abbreviations, a chronology from the On the cultural side, how many Western readers (presumed) time of the Patriarchs until June have heard of the Bnei Menashe, a group of 2016, a historical introduction and a general, 7,000 indigenous people in North-East India and not very informative, map (there are several who have long considered themselves Jews and aspects of the history of Israel and Palestine have recently been officially recognised as such? which might have been considerably elucidated (the authors point out in several articles that the by appropriate maps, but the editors of this matter of who is to be regarded as a Jew is one series seem reluctant to grasp such of vital importance in Israel). opportunities). The appendices include a The Historical Dictionary of Israel is full of transcript of the declaration of independence of useful information which will assist readers 1948; lists of presidents, prime ministers and studying that remarkable and controversial other important office-holders and, very usefully, country: but (like the rest of the world) its lists of the numbers of immigrants who arrived authors could not know that by the time that in the country in each year from 1882 onwards their new edition was published, the wheel of and of the population distribution of religious fortune would have turned again and the faiths for each year since 1948: one notices that dramatic events of late 2016, notably the fall of since then, the number of Jews has multiplied by Aleppo and the advent of President Trump, 8, and the number of Muslims by 16, whereas seemed likely to upset several of the pieces on the number of Christians has hardly risen. the Middle Eastern chessboard. It may not be The bibliography lists 1,400 books, long before yet another revision is required. apparently all in English, in a classified order K.C. Fraser and with a discursive introduction. It looks as if Formerly Senior Assistant Librarian, nearly half of them deal with wars or military St. Andrews University Library, St. Andrews, affairs. About 70 websites are listed, of which 60 UK are located in Israel and the others in the USA. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Reference Reviews Emerald Publishing

Historical dictionary of Israel (3rd edition)

Fraser, K.C.
Reference Reviews , Volume 31 (4): 1 – May 15, 2017
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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
ISSN
0950-4125
DOI
10.1108/RR-01-2017-0001
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Abstract

Area studies Reference Reviews Volume 31 · Number 4 · 2017 · 39-40 Librarians will be aware that there is a RR 2017/120 particular difficulty lying in the path of an Historical dictionary of Israel author who wishes to deal with the modern (3rd edition) history and politics of Israel, for the significance of many events in that history is strongly Bernard Reich and David H. Goldberg contested. It thus becomes the duty of the Rowman & Littlefield reviewer to inform readers of the point of view Lanham, MD and London expressed by the author. In this case, it is very clear that (though doing their best to be impartial) the authors interpret history from a lii  727 pp. point of view sympathetic to Israel, and that a ISBN 978 1 4422 7184 5 (print); ISBN 978 1 4422 7185 2 different author, sympathetic to the Palestinians, (e-book) might have treated some of the same events £105 $165 rather differently. Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Leaving this caveat aside, readers will be Oceania and the Middle East impressed by the author’s extensive knowledge Keywords Dictionaries, History, Israel of the complexities of Israeli politics. Much of the complexity seems to arise from the pure Review DOI 10.1108/RR-01-2017-0001 form of proportional representation used in Considering that it is a small country with a elections, which has encouraged numerous, and rather short modern history as an independent frequently changing, parties and groups: over state, Israel has attained an important place in 100 of the entries in the Dictionary deal with world affairs and thus requires of one the larger them, and it is stated that 25 parties contested volumes in the Historical Dictionaries series, the 2015 elections, of which 10 obtained seats. including nearly 900 entries of between 20 and Such results tend to give small parties, including 2,000 words on the people, parties, representatives of religious orthodoxy, more organizations, places, conflicts, conferences and influence than their numbers merit. But, the treaties significant to it. The majority of these authors have not neglected to cover economic naturally deal with events since 1948, although and cultural matters, some of which may come there are some on developments in the region as a surprise to non-specialists. I was unaware, from about 1880; the text is updated to the early for instance, that a quarter of Israel’s exports by part of 2016. value consist of cut diamonds, or that the The supplementary material is in the usual country is the world’s largest exporter of military style of the series, comprising a list of acronyms drones for which Britain is the largest customer. and abbreviations, a chronology from the On the cultural side, how many Western readers (presumed) time of the Patriarchs until June have heard of the Bnei Menashe, a group of 2016, a historical introduction and a general, 7,000 indigenous people in North-East India and not very informative, map (there are several who have long considered themselves Jews and aspects of the history of Israel and Palestine have recently been officially recognised as such? which might have been considerably elucidated (the authors point out in several articles that the by appropriate maps, but the editors of this matter of who is to be regarded as a Jew is one series seem reluctant to grasp such of vital importance in Israel). opportunities). The appendices include a The Historical Dictionary of Israel is full of transcript of the declaration of independence of useful information which will assist readers 1948; lists of presidents, prime ministers and studying that remarkable and controversial other important office-holders and, very usefully, country: but (like the rest of the world) its lists of the numbers of immigrants who arrived authors could not know that by the time that in the country in each year from 1882 onwards their new edition was published, the wheel of and of the population distribution of religious fortune would have turned again and the faiths for each year since 1948: one notices that dramatic events of late 2016, notably the fall of since then, the number of Jews has multiplied by Aleppo and the advent of President Trump, 8, and the number of Muslims by 16, whereas seemed likely to upset several of the pieces on the number of Christians has hardly risen. the Middle Eastern chessboard. It may not be The bibliography lists 1,400 books, long before yet another revision is required. apparently all in English, in a classified order K.C. Fraser and with a discursive introduction. It looks as if Formerly Senior Assistant Librarian, nearly half of them deal with wars or military St. Andrews University Library, St. Andrews, affairs. About 70 websites are listed, of which 60 UK are located in Israel and the others in the USA.

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Reference Reviews – Emerald Publishing

Published: May 15, 2017

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