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Israel Is Real

By: Rich Cohen
Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
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Summary

It's a great irony that Israel was more secure as an idea than it's ever been as a nation with an army. In AD 70, when the Second Temple was destroyed, a handful of visionaries saved Judaism by reinventing it - by taking what had been a national religion, identified with a particular place, and turning it into an idea. Jews no longer needed Jerusalem to be Jews. Whenever a Jew studied, wherever he washed, would be in the holy city. In this way, a few rabbis turned a real city into a city of the mind; in this way, they turned the Temple into a book and preserved their faith.

Though you can burn a city, you cannot sack an idea or kill a book. But in our own time, Zionists have turned the book back into a temple. And unlike an idea, a temple can be destroyed. The creation of Israel has made Jews vulnerable in a way they have not been for 2,000 years.

In Israel Is Real, Rich Cohen's superb new history of the Zionist idea and the Jewish state, the history of a nation is chronicled as if it were the biography of a person. He brings to life dozens of fascinating figures, each driven by the same impulse: to reach Jerusalem. From false messiahs, such as David Alroy (Cohen calls him the first superhero, with his tallis as a cape) and Sabbatai Zevi, who led thousands on a mad spiritual journey, to the early Zionists (many of them failed journalists), to the iconic figures of the modern Jewish Sparta, David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, and Ariel Sharon, Cohen shows how all these lives together form a single story, a single life.

In this unique book, Cohen examines the myth of the wandering Jew, the paradox of Jewish power (how can you be both holy and nuclear?), and the triumph and tragedy of the Jewish state - how the creation of modern Israel has changed what it means to be a Jew anywhere.
©2009 Rich Cohen (P)2009 Audible, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
Israel & Palestine Judaism World City
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About the Creator and Performer - Rich Cohen

About the Creator and Performer

Rich Cohen is the author of The New York Times bestsellers Tough Jews; Monsters; Sweet and Low; When I Stop Talking, You’ll Know I’m Dead (with Jerry Weintraub); The Sun & the Moon & the Rolling Stones; and The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse. He is a co-creator of the HBO series Vinyl and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone. He has written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications. Cohen has won the Great Lakes Book Award, the Chicago Public Library’s 21st Century Award, and the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for outstanding coverage of music. His stories have been included in The Best American Essays and The Best American Travel Writing. His latest book, The Last Pirate of New York, is out in paperback in June 2020.
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Critic reviews

"Cohen's idiosyncratic yet often lyrical take on Israel is sometimes exasperating but always deeply felt and refreshing." (Publishers Weekly)
“A fascinating big-picture account of Israel from its distant past to what happened last week. Rich Cohen tells this story central to mankind with skill, passion, common sense, and wit.” (Ian Frazier)
“Rich Cohen’s passionate, engaged, thoroughly modern book is—dare I say—a revelation.” (Jeffrey Toobin)

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    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for P

Brilliant! Five Stars.

An excellent book. Entertaining and informative. Brilliantly read by Jonathan Davis. One of the most enjoyable audiobooks I have listened to and I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in Israel, past or present.

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Profile Image for carrosvoss

Poetic but full of facts.

What did you like most about Israel Is Real?

This is a funny book. Parts are waxing lyrical, poetic and full of flowing words like river is full of water. Between are hard facts and exceptionally clever analysis. Together this blend forms an interesting narration, enjoyable and yet informative.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

You can't make a film of this book. It might be chronological narration but you just can't sqiz it into that form without killing the subject.

Any additional comments?

As long as you remember there is a lot of poetic language separating hard facts and analysis, you'll enjoy it immensely. And this is not a PC book, there are some harsh truths and some uncomfortable ones as well. Well balanced and multifaceted.

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Profile Image for Avi

Stunning

All I can say about how good this book is is this: I Re listened to it as soon as I finished it.

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