An eminent historian returns with an authoritative history of Zionism and Israel

This rich, authoritative history chronicles the Zionist Israeli quest from its origins in pre-Great War Europe. Mayer traces the development of political Zionism’s primal resolve to implant a state for Jews in a Middle East of ever greater strategic importance. He provides new perspectives on key turning points as well as on such enduring issues as the young country’s dire need for imperial protection, the oil imperative, the hidden ascendance of Jabotinsky’s martial and expansionist canon, reliance on the American Jewish and Christian evangelical lobbies, the post-colonial backlash against Western supremacy, the asymmetry of power between Israelis and Palestinians, the Zionist Israeli leaders’ studied prevarication on borders, and the emergence of political Judaism and political Islam. Incorporating reflections on founding violence, sovereignty, resistance, terror, and religious politics, Plowshares into Swords is an absorbing, challenging narrative of Zionism and Israel in the context of world history.

Praise for Why Did Not the Heavens Darken?:

“Mayer has written a masterly study of probably the most difficult and painful topic a historian can tackle.” — The Nation

“This is a serious and thoughtful contribution to the subject, clearly written, provocatively argued and based on a wide reading of scholarly literature.” — Jewish Chronicle

Arno J. Mayer is Professor Emeritus of European History at Princeton University. His many books include The Furies: Violence and Terror in the French and Russian Revolutions, The Persistence of the Old Regime: Europe to the Great War and Why Did The Heavens Not Darken? The “Final Solution” in History.