About
As the founder of Israel, David Ben-Gurion long ago secured his reputation as a leading figure of the twentieth century. Determined from an early age to create a Jewish state, he thereupon took control of the Zionist movement, declared Israel's independence, and navigated his country through wars, controversies and remarkable achievements. And yet, Ben-Gurion remains an enigma-he could be driven and imperious, or quizzical and confounding.
In this definitive biography, Israel's leading journalist-historian Tom Segev uses large amounts of previously unreleased archival material to give an original, nuanced account, transcending the myths and legends that have accreted around the man. Segev's probing biography ranges from the villages of Poland to Manhattan libraries, London hotels, and the hills of Palestine, and shows us Ben-Gurion's relentless activity across six decades. Along the way, Segev reveals for the first time Ben-Gurion's secret negotiations with the British on the eve of Israel's independence, his willingness to countenance the forced transfer of Arab neighbors, his relative indifference to Jerusalem, and his occasional "nutty moments"-from UFO sightings to plans for Israel to acquire territory in South America. Segev also reveals that Ben-Gurion first heard about the Holocaust from a Palestinian Arab acquaintance, and explores his tempestuous private life, including the testimony of four former lovers.
The result is a full and startling portrait of a man who sought a state "at any cost"-at times through risk-taking, violence, and unpredictability, and at other times through compromise, moderation, and reason. Segev's Ben-Gurion is neither a saint nor a villain but rather a historical actor who belongs in the company of Lenin or Churchill-a twentieth-century leader whose iron will and complex temperament left a complex and contentious legacy that we still reckon with today.
In this definitive biography, Israel's leading journalist-historian Tom Segev uses large amounts of previously unreleased archival material to give an original, nuanced account, transcending the myths and legends that have accreted around the man. Segev's probing biography ranges from the villages of Poland to Manhattan libraries, London hotels, and the hills of Palestine, and shows us Ben-Gurion's relentless activity across six decades. Along the way, Segev reveals for the first time Ben-Gurion's secret negotiations with the British on the eve of Israel's independence, his willingness to countenance the forced transfer of Arab neighbors, his relative indifference to Jerusalem, and his occasional "nutty moments"-from UFO sightings to plans for Israel to acquire territory in South America. Segev also reveals that Ben-Gurion first heard about the Holocaust from a Palestinian Arab acquaintance, and explores his tempestuous private life, including the testimony of four former lovers.
The result is a full and startling portrait of a man who sought a state "at any cost"-at times through risk-taking, violence, and unpredictability, and at other times through compromise, moderation, and reason. Segev's Ben-Gurion is neither a saint nor a villain but rather a historical actor who belongs in the company of Lenin or Churchill-a twentieth-century leader whose iron will and complex temperament left a complex and contentious legacy that we still reckon with today.
Related Subjects
Reviews
"Segev . . . has spent four decades exploring Ben-Gurion's impact on Israel, in a body of work that has no equal either for the brilliance of his storytelling or the ironies of his analysis. He is neither a sentimental apologist for Ben-Gurion nor a crusading dethroner in the style of the New Historians with whom he has often been grouped. He is, rather, a student of power, and is at once fascinat
Adam Shatz, London Review of Books
"[A] deeply researched, engrossing and, in some respects, controversial biography . . . Segev is best when probing the human side of the complex leader. Often brusque in manner, outwardly self-assured and iron-willed, Ben-Gurion poured his innermost emotions into his diaries and letters . . . Through the drama of his life, and despite his failings"
both personal and political
"Long and rich in detail, A State at Any Cost offers a lucid account of Ben-Gurion's tumultuous life and complex character . . . Segev handles this mixture of adolescent melancholy, secular rebelliousness, and fin-de-siècle ideologies with skill. He has a knack for weaving together the mundane and the momentous, the personal and the political. As in all his books, Segev doesn't just relay facts,
Assaf Sharon, The New York Review of Books