Reddit Reddit reviews The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict, 7th Edition

We found 5 Reddit comments about The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict, 7th Edition. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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Middle East History
Israel & Palestine History
The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict, 7th Edition
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5 Reddit comments about The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict, 7th Edition:

u/nsocks4 · 16 pointsr/neutralnews

TLDR the international plan was not just a "sorry about that whole holocaust thing" that called for booting out the Palestinians. The Zionist concept of an independent Jewish state predates the Holocaust by decades, and plans had been drafted well before Hitler rose to power in Germany. By the time the UN voted to partition the country, a large Jewish community had been living in Palestine for sixty+ years, and smaller Arab-Jewish communities predated even the aliyahs.

Disclaimer: I have attempted to avoid biased language in this. I did not have space to cover every massacre or infraction by either side. This is intended to be a brief overview of the situation and a starting point to read and learn more about this immensely complicated subject, not a comprehensive history of the creation of Israel. It should be noted that Zionist != Jewish != Israeli. Likewise Arab != Muslim != Palestinian. There are and were Arab Christians, Arab Jews, and non-Arabs all involved in the situation.

Sources (just the first two I grabbed off my shelf):

Lacquer, Walter. The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict , 7th Edition.

Gelvin, David. The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War.

u/The_Vulture1 · 3 pointsr/AskHistorians

The Israel-Arab Reader is almost entirely composed of primary sources, with almost no commentary by the authors apart from the foreword and afterword.

https://www.amazon.com/Israel-Arab-Reader-Documentary-History-Conflict/dp/0143113798

u/[deleted] · 3 pointsr/AskReddit

First, I have a very US-centric perspective, so you may notice that in my recommendations. I'm just looking at my bookcase recommending anything I've read and enjoyed (if it's on my bookcase, I enjoyed it). I have a lot more books in boxes, so if you want more recommendations do let me know. Also, if you want more information on any of the books, feel free to ask me.

Books:

History of the World by J.M. Roberts

A Study of History by Arnold Tonybee

Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization by Bruce Thorton

The Story of Civilization - Will & Ariel Durant

Separated at Birth: How North Korea Became the Evil Twin by Gordon Cucullu

The Fall of Japan: The Last Blazing Weeks of World War II by William Craig

The Century of Revolution: 1603-1714 by Christopher Hill

China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture by Charles Hucker

Middle East Patterns: Places, Peoples, and Politics by Colbert Held

Concise History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Ian Bickerton

The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict by Walter Lagueur

A Concise History of the Crusades by Thomas Madden

The Wonders of America: Reinventing Jewish Culture 1880-1950

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown

Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky

The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn


The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan


1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann

Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris

The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X

The Second World War by Winston Churchill

Documentaries:

The World at War

Ken Burns: The Civil War

Civilisation: A Personal View

u/Luzzatto · 2 pointsr/explainlikeimfive

I'd be happy to help answer any questions to the best of my ability. I'd also recommend learning about the conflict not via a historical book arguing a particularly interpretation but rather a documentary source book. This one is wonderful and will give you direct access to many primary source documents so that you can make up your own mind about the conflict.

After learning the primary sources, then it's worth reading some more opinionated histories, like Benny Morris's or Efraim Karsh's.

The best advice I can give is to not forget that the conflict is really about people. People whose lives, families, and societies are on the line and whom are often caught up in the games of much bigger players who care little for them.

u/Qwill2 · 0 pointsr/booksuggestions

Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Charles Smith was quite balanced, as I remember. Check out the reader's reviews. More reviews of it here.

I agree with bugbunz that there's plenty of propaganda on both sides, so when you read the reviews of that one, or any other book on the conflict, remember that supporters of each side will typically view different books as "one-sided" or "skewed". I suppose the only way to get through all that is to read even more books, to eventually reach something of a 'balanced understanding', whatever that is... Good luck! :)

EDIT: I chose Smith's book in part because it contains plenty of historic documents, like the Balfour Declaration, the White Paper, speeches in the UN etc.

If you don't end up buying the Smith book (and even if you do), you should at least get a hold of one or more document readers, like this or this one. Here is another one, that you can browse through here. Beware that bias is also possible in the selection of documents to present (or of which sections to quote).