Covering the first half of the twentieth century sketchily and then the first thirty years of the Israel as a nation this book is exciting informative and reasonably balanced.
Much of what is written here has been eclipsed by the subsequent thirty years yet the death of Rabin and the intifada, the rise of Hamas cannot be appreciated unless the earlier history is known.
The portrayal of the Moche Dayan, Begin, Golda Meir, Arafat and other important people in the creation of Israel and the destruction of Palestine is riveting and colourful.
Sadly, this is not an uplifting story and it is hard not to be pessimistic about peace in the Middle East.
James Pope

This reads more like a novel than a history text, but then again the subject is thrilling. This is a good book to take to Israel if you want to read about the country, understand where it came from, and give some context to your travels.

If you want to know well the roots of the creation of the modern state of Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict this is the one book to read.

I have always been a fan of Dominique Lappiere & Larry Collins writing, O Jerusalem is a page turner that gives you goose-bumps. A book about a place that never stops to amaze you. A must read.

The book is well researched and well written. O Jerusalem provides factual events that lead up to the War of Independence that helps to understand what occurred in 1947-48. A must read to understand the history of the Middle East today.

This monumental work is the most gripping and informative account I've read about the rebirth of Israel in 1948. Of course the focus is on Jerusalem and the text does not cover the war in Galilee or the South in any detail. The work includes the roles of famous persons and the experiences of ordinary people in equal measure.

Part 1: A Time To Mourn And A Time To Dance covers the UN decision in favour of partition, the Arab reaction, some background history - ancient Israel as well as the British Mandate period - and the various missions by both sides to procure arms.

Part 2: A House Divided, deals with the beginning of hostilities and unrest in the city, the deteriorating situation on the Tel Aviv- Jerusalem road, various horrific bombings of certain landmark buildings, the intensifying struggle for the city and the different Arab forces involved in the war.

Part 3: A City Besieged, concentrates on the harrowing struggle to hang on to the Jewish quarter of the old city from March 20 to May 13 of 1948. It includes an account of the tragic events at the village of Deir Yassin, the veracity of which is still in dispute today.

Part 4: These Shall Stand describes the movements of the various Arab forces and the Jewish response. It provides details of the Arab Legion attack on the city, Jewish counterattacks, the battle of Latrun, the loss of the Jewish quarter in the old city, and the building of a new road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Finally Israel was established but it would only regain the old city in 1967.

The Epilogue looks at the aftermath of the war of independence and takes stock of the terrible losses. The root of the refugee problem is explored and the author briefly deals with the transformation of the new Jewish State into a flourishing economic entity.

There are extensive explanatory notes arranged by chapter, a vast bibliography of books, articles, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers plus private documents and correspondence. The book concludes with an index.

On the inside front and back covers and in the text itself there are maps of Jerusalem and Israel, whilst the 40 pages of black and white plates encompass 60 photographs of people and places.

Both sides suffered terribly in this war. The authors succeed in being objective as regards the struggle between Jew and Arab, but it is clear that they consider the Haganah as the sole legitimate force on the Jewish side and they are openly hostile to the Irgun.

O Jerusalem is a riveting read on many levels. It holds the reader's attention by dealing with events from the perspective of a wide spectrum of individuals. The narrative is often very sad and sensitive readers should be aware that certain passages are quite disturbing. But this book is probably the very best history of the Rebirth of Israel and the part Jerusalem played in this momentous event.

This monumental work is the most gripping and informative account I've read about the rebirth of Israel in 1948. Of course the focus is on Jerusalem and the text does not cover the war in Galilee or the South in any detail. The work includes the roles of famous persons and the experiences of ordinary people in equal measure.

Part 1: A Time To Mourn And A Time To Dance covers the UN decision in favour of partition, the Arab reaction, some background history - ancient Israel as well as the British Mandate period - and the various missions by both sides to procure arms.

Part 2: A House Divided, deals with the beginning of hostilities and unrest in the city, the deteriorating situation on the Tel Aviv- Jerusalem road, various horrific bombings of certain landmark buildings, the intensifying struggle for the city and the different Arab forces involved in the war.

Part 3: A City Besieged, concentrates on the harrowing struggle to hang on to the Jewish quarter of the old city from March 20 to May 13 of 1948. It includes an account of the tragic events at the village of Deir Yassin, the veracity of which is still in dispute today.

Part 4: These Shall Stand describes the movements of the various Arab forces and the Jewish response. It provides details of the Arab Legion attack on the city, Jewish counterattacks, the battle of Latrun, the loss of the Jewish quarter in the old city, and the building of a new road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Finally Israel was established but it would only regain the old city in 1967.

The Epilogue looks at the aftermath of the war of independence and takes stock of the terrible losses. The root of the refugee problem is explored and the author briefly deals with the transformation of the new Jewish State into a flourishing economic entity.

There are extensive explanatory notes arranged by chapter, a vast bibliography of books, articles, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers plus private documents and correspondence. The book concludes with an index.

On the inside front and back covers and in the text itself there are maps of Jerusalem and Israel, whilst the 40 pages of black and white plates encompass 60 photographs of people and places.

Both sides suffered terribly in this war. The authors succeed in being objective as regards the struggle between Jew and Arab, but it is clear that they consider the Haganah as the sole legitimate force on the Jewish side and they are openly hostile to the Irgun.

O Jerusalem is a riveting read on many levels. It holds the reader's attention by dealing with events from the perspective of a wide spectrum of individuals. The narrative is often very sad and sensitive readers should be aware that certain passages are quite disturbing. But this book is probably the very best history of the Rebirth of Israel and the part Jerusalem played in this momentous event.

This important non-fiction account of the struggle for a Jewish state is superbly written and extensively researched--I could not put it down. Everyone would benefit from learning some of the history behind the turmoil in the Middle East. The engaging narrative makes it as engrossing and accessible as any fast-reading fictional bestseller. A must-read!

The authors inspired me thirty years ago when I first read this work. It remains one of my all-time favorites. God's protection for His people is just as evident with the modern state of Israel as it was centuries ago.

Everything about Israel's War of Independence is here, hour by hour and minute by minute. Exhaustive, comprehensive, fastidiously detailed. A panorama of a land, a beehive of characters. It is a mandatory read but at times it becomes overwhelming, and it is hard to stay focused among so many characters and minute by minute action.

It will take more than one reading to absorb all this information, so I recommend to take it easy and pay more attention than I did.

Having read thousands of pages on the middle east conflict (including the more standard "advocacy" (propaganda) and academic texts) and I can safely say this book is the most riveting and informative of them all. The authors come across more as storytellers than as lecturers, offering the history in a narrative style that reads like a particularly dramatic novel. The authors devote more or less equal time to the Arab and Jewish protagonists (and antagonists) in the colorful cast of characters and don't shy away from using the word terrorist as appropriate - regardless of the bad guys' motive. Ultimately this book's greatest strength is that it (perhaps inadvertently) sheds so much light on the modern debate between Israel's "traditional" and "revisionist" historians, whose arguments themselves go right to the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict. To get a real grip on this conflict, skip the activist lectures and devote a few days to reading this book instead.

Well-written 1972 book that focuses on one aspect of the creation of the Jewish State of Israel. Countless interviews are strung together here with people who lived through the first war between the Jewish and Arab inhabitants of Jerusalem and environs, and to a lesser extent, other parts of the area that was to become Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Like the authors' other well-known book, "Is Paris Burning," "O Jerusalem" reads a bit like a screenplay, and, in my opinion, some liberties are taken in presenting the thoughts and emotions of the book's subjects even though many of them perished in the 1948 war and never were directly interviewed by the authors.
Because of the almost exclusive focus on Jerusalem in this weighty chronicle, there is an absence of information on what else was taking place in other parts of the area at the same time. Also missing is much about the Ottoman Empire and British mandate periods that set the stage for the ultimate showdown between the longtime Arab inhabitants of the region and resurgent and growing Jewish population.
Overall, the authors' purpose in telling the story of the triumphal birth of Israel does not allow for a completely objective telling of the whole story. There is considerable focus on the disarray and out-and-out villainly of the Arab governments of the time, but much less on the everyday Arab citizenry living in the disputed territory, who were ultimately to become the biggest losers in the l948 struggle.
There are other problems with the book--the most important reference map for this book is tucked into its last page--but it ultimately serves as an interesting snapshot and a partial explanation of the conflict that continues unabated nearly 60 years after this telling. If there is some lesson here, it's that good intentions and high purposes are easily forgotten in the passion and viciousness of war.

Most people who have not made it their specific study are relatively unaware of the creation of the state of Israel. Fortunately, there is this excellent account of the birth of Israel and the war that followed. This book does have a number of flaws, but despite this should be read by anyone looking for a fair account of the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The book is the result of exhaustive research by two well respected authors including several hundred interviews conducted in the late 1960s. The focus of the book is at the micro level, the lives and experiences of common people who were swept up into the maelstrom of battle, but at the same time it does address the Macro considerations of the great leaders and powers. As such it contains an amazing caste of characters, mainly in their own words, from Jewish immigrants, to King Hussein of Jordan, to simple Arab villagers, to President Truman. Perhaps despite this, O' Jerusalem is a VERY readable book and a true page-turner.

The real failure of the book is that it was the product of its time. It was written shortly after the Six Day War in which Israel took on three of its neighbors and decisively defeated them. It was also long before the full implications of the refugee problem were known. As a result, it tends to paint the Israelis in a rather positive light. It leans ever so slightly in their favor on most questions. (more on this later)

That said, the authors made great efforts to be totally objective and exercised the greatest academic rigor. When there are contradicting versions of an event, they provide both versions with sane and level headed analysis. They restrict their information to primary sources rather than so many books now which use secondary or processed information. In some cases, they have found accounts from both sides of a single firefight in which the actions of one interviewee are remembered by a participant from the other side. It is an amazing feat of historiography.

There is also no effort to paint over the flaws and faults of either side. This is perfectly exemplified by the books treatment of the massacres of Dier Yassin (when about a hundred Arabs were murdered by the right wing Jewish Irgun and Stern Gang) and Kvar Etzion (When an approximately equal number of Jewish settlers were murdered by Arab Irregulars perhaps with the connivance of the Arab Legion). Both are honestly reported. When sources disagree, it is pointed out.

It is perhaps the best recommendation for this book that it will probably infuriate the "true believers" on both sides. Neither side turns out to be plaster saints or a pack of black devils. They are human. This makes this book one of two a person MUST read in order to understand the Middle East. The other FYI is "The Lemon Tree" by Tolan. That book leans rather hard towards the Arab viewpoint. Ideally read them together for an incredibly balanced version of events.

The founding of Israel was, depending on your point of view, an incredible miracle or an incredible "Al Nakba" Disaster. Both sides will agree however that it is an incredible story. This book is probably the best and most readable account of the incredible story that still affects the world in which we live even 60 years after the events it relates have transpired.