David Ben-Gurion cast a great shadow during his lifetime, and his
legacy continues to be sharply debated to this day. There have been many
books written about the life and accomplishments of the Zionist icon
and founder of modern Israel, but this new biography by eminent Israeli
historian Anita Shapira strives to get to the core of the complex man
who would become the face of the new Jewish nation. Shapira tells the
Ben-Gurion story anew, focusing especially on the period after 1948,
during the first years of statehood. As a result of her extensive
research and singular access to Ben-Gurion’s personal archives, the
author provides fascinating and original insights into his personal
qualities and those that defined his political leadership. As Shapira
writes, “Ben-Gurion liked to argue that history is made by the masses,
not individuals. But just as Lenin brought the Bolshevik Revolution into
the world and Churchill delivered a fighting Britain, so with
Ben-Gurion and the Jewish state. He knew how to create and exploit the
circumstances that made its birth possible.” Shapira’s portrait reveals
the flesh-and-blood man who more than anyone else realized the Israeli
state.
Anita Shapira is professor emerita at Tel Aviv University,
where she previously served as dean of the Faculty of Humanities and
held the Ruben Merenfeld Chair for the Study of Zionism. Her previous
books include
Israel: A History, winner of the National Jewish Book Award. She lives in Tel Aviv.
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