Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on
bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World
by Seth M. Siegel
Let There Be Water illustrates how Israel can serve as a model for the United States and countries everywhere by showing how to blunt the worst of the coming water calamities. Even with 60 percent of its country made of desert, Israel has not only solved its water problem; it also had an abundance of water. Israel even supplies water to its neighbors-the Palestinians and the Kingdom of Jordan-every day.
The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem
by Dan Bahat
My Life
by Golda Meir
A moving autobiography by former Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir.
Ancient Israel: A Short History from Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple
by Hershel Shanks, editor
The Innocents Abroad
by Mark Twain
(Especially Chapters 51-56)
Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation
by Yossi Klein Halevi
"Like Dreamers" interweaves the stories of a group of 1967 paratroopers who reunited Jerusalem, tracing the history of Israel and the divergent ideologies shaping it from the Six-Day War to the present. This book gives insight into where Israel and Israelis are politically, socially, economically, and religiously.
A History of Israel from the Rise of Zionism to Our Time
by Howard M. Sachar
Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor
by Yossi Klein Halevy
Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor is one Israeli’s powerful attempt to reach beyond the wall that separates Israelis and Palestinians and into the hearts of "the enemy." In a series of letters, Yossi Klein Halevi explains what motivated him to leave his native New York in his twenties and move to Israel to participate in the drama of the renewal of a Jewish homeland, which he is committed to see succeed as a morally responsible, democratic state in the Middle East.
This is the first attempt by an Israeli author to directly address his Palestinian neighbors and describe how the conflict appears through Israeli eyes. Halevi untangles the ideological and emotional knot that has defined the conflict for nearly a century. In lyrical, evocative language, he unravels the complex strands of faith, pride, anger and anguish he feels as a Jew living in Israel, using history and personal experience as his guide.
Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide
by Michael B. Oren
Michael B. Oren’s memoir of his time as Israel’s ambassador to the United States—a period of transformative change for America and a time of violent upheaval throughout the Middle East—provides a frank, fascinating look inside the special relationship between America and its closest ally in the region.
Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle
by Dan Senor and Saul Singer
START-UP NATION addresses the trillion dollar question: How is it that Israel-- a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources-- produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK?
My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
by Ari Shavit
Israeli journalist Ari Shavit illuminates the issues and threats that Israel is currently facing and uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present. The result is a landmark portrait of a small, vibrant country living on the edge, whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today's global political landscape.
The Prime Ministers
by Yehuda Avner
Walking the Bible: A Journey Through the Five Books of Moses
by Bruce Feiler
Jerusalem: The Biography
by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East
by Dr. Michael B. Oren
Islam: A Short History
by Karen Armstrong
