A fine, balanced, insightful, scholarly survey of Zionism and its dark side. This Israeli scholar issues an effective call for readers to take a more enlightened stand on an issue often clouded by ignorance and (anti-Palestinian)racial prejudice. As a former relief worker in the Middle East, I heartily endorse Prof. Beit-Hallahmi's book as an introduction to clear thinking and action about the realities of Palestine/Israel and other, broader, issues. As a professor of social ethics, I find this book well documented and well researched, bringing light to a question which often generates only heat and darkness.

This book is remarkable. It ranges widely but is quite incisive! Covering about 200 years of Jewish life with special attention to the Zionist movement and the State of Israel.
Despite the title, it is not the breast beating of a bleeding hear liberal. It just states that facts and examines the arguments and concludes with a way forward.

True, he probably dwells too much on the "failures" of Zionism. (Zionsim failed to work as intended, that doesn't mean necessarily that it failed.) One might want to compare Tom Segev's ELVIS IN JERUSALEM assessment.

The chapter on religion is worth the price alone! He disentangles the groups like Gush Emunim, the Kach party, Agudat Israel, and Neturei Karta, which tend to get lumped together. Along the way the does much to give the lie to Israel Shahak JEWISH HISTORY, JEWISH RELIGION which sought to lay the sins of Zionism at the doorstep of "Classical Judaism." On the contrary, even today, there is an strong negative correlation between orthodoxy and zionism in Israel.

As for anyone who wishes to question his discussion of religious groups, I would like to point out that religion in Israeli life is a Dr. Beit-Hallahmi and his previous book DESPAIR AND DELIVERANCE deals with this very subject.

This Haifa University Israeli scholar credibly demolishes the myths successfully established by a century of Zionist propaganda. He joins Marc Ellis and Meron Benvenisti(CITY OF STONE)as a courageous "voice in the wilderness" in an Israel where few leaders are willing to acknowledge the massive injustice done to the Palestinian people over the past fifty years. That such a devastating critique of the flawed foundation of a society can come from within it's own intelligentia is, oddly enough, a tribute to Israel and a sign of hope.

It's a 500-page book, and it has many excellent articles inthis encyclopedia... I bought this to use as a reference to add to other books on the topic. Most of the articles in this encyclopedia are very short--a pargaraph is the norm for each group it discusses--but several go into further detail, such as articles written on the Children of God and the Unification Church. For a Christain perspective that goes into more detail, I might recommend either The Compact Guide to World Religions (Halverson, Bethany House) or Encyclopedia of Cults and New Religions (Ankerberg/Weldon, Harvest House). These are much better values than this.