Shimon Peres: The Biography
- ISBN-10
- 1400062926
- ISBN-13
- 9781400062928
- Series
- Shimon Peres
- Category
- Biography & Autobiography / Political
- Pages
- 554
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2007
- Publisher
- Random House
- Author
- Michael Bar-Zohar
Description
Twice Israel’s prime minister, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, bold leader in a war-torn region, Shimon Peres is one of the great statesmen of the modern world. Peres is also a fascinating, complex man–a brilliant intellectual who is entirely at home in the corridors of power; an individual revered by the world and yet highly controversial in his own country; at once a hero and a figure of tragedy. Now, in this definitive biography, Michael Bar-Zohar takes the full measure of a towering, enigmatic leader.
Drawing on his decades-long association with Peres, as well as the full cooperation of the leader’s family, friends, supporters, and political rivals, Bar-Zohar has crafted a vibrant, daring, richly textured portrait of a man whose life and career span the entire history of Israel. Born in Poland in 1923, Peres emigrated to the Holy Land at the age of twelve, already a fiercely idealistic Zionist. Peres joined a kibbutz and, while still in his teens, became the leader of a major youth movement. When the struggle for Israeli independence broke out, future prime minister David Ben-Gurion tapped him to join his inner circle.
As director general of the Defense Ministry under Ben-Gurion, Peres spearheaded a far-reaching campaign to turn Israel into a major military power. He jump-started Israel’s aircraft industry, forged a secret alliance with France, and successfully pursued his dream of making Israel a nuclear power. And yet Peres’s real triumph came not as a man of war but as a peacemaker.
Elected prime minister in 1984, Peres brought new hope by pulling Israeli troops out of the quagmire in Lebanon, defusing tensions with Jordan, and, at the risk of his own political future, making serious overtures to the Palestinians. Peres and his longtime rival Yitzhak Rabin together secured the top-secret Oslo Accords of 1993, which won them and Yasser Arafat the Nobel Peace Prize–only to see the hope of peace shattered in a resurgence of regional violence.
In a half-century of leadership, Peres has worked beside–or fought against–such giants as Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon, and, tragically, Rabin, who was slain at the rally that marked his reconciliation with Peres. Still powerful in his eighties, Peres stands as a true hero, a visionary who embodies the history of his nation. In this stunning, courageously frank, and scrupulously factual biography, Michael Bar-Zohar gives an eminent man his due.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2020-11-12
- 265 pages
- Paperback
- Bloomsbury Publishing
-
- 2020-11-12
- 264 pages
- Ebook
- Bloomsbury Publishing
-
- 2020-11-12
- 264 pages
- Ebook
- Bloomsbury Publishing
Similar books
-
愛這個世界：漢娜鄂蘭傳
By 伊莉莎白．揚．布魯爾◆國立政治大學政治學系副教授 葉浩 專文導讀 ◆1982 年《洛杉磯時報》傳記類圖書獎，1983 年美國國家猶太圖書獎 二十世紀最重要的政治思想家——漢娜鄂蘭 ...
-
四位美國偉人
By本書以生動而簡潔的語言介紹了美國歷史上的四位傑出人物——喬治•華盛頓、本傑 明•佛蘭克林、丹尼爾•韋伯斯特和亞伯拉罕•林肯的傳奇故事。他們歷經挫折，卻從不輕言 ...
-
Benjamin Franklin
By Edwin S. Gaustad, Professor Emeritus of History and Religious Studies Edwin S GaustadAn engaging biography of Benjamin Franklin, published on the tricentennial of his birth, offers a marvelous portrait of this towering colonial figure, who, with only two years of formal education, managed to lead one of the most ...
-
Entering China's Service: Robert Hart's Journals, 1854-1863
By Robert HartIn 1970, a second lode of Hart materials came to light, the 77 volumes of his journals, begun on the day of his arrival in China in 1854 and ending at his departure in 1908, with two short but significant gaps in the first decade where he ...
-
Napoleon: A Biographical Companion
By David NichollsDescribes the life, achievements, rise to power, and influences of the military leader who crowned himself Emperor of the French and established dominance over Europe.
-
The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston: 1846-1848
By Sam Houston... 27 , 30 , 95 Cushman , George L. , 278 , 321 Davignon , 354n Davis , Caroline , 117 , 159 , 162 , 210 , 228 , 251 , 264 , 273 ; marriage of , 336n , 338 , 347 Davis , Eliza , 251 , 266 , 267n , 337 , 338 Davis , Garret , 175 Davis ...
-
Eban
By Robert St. JohnHe was already an admirer of the wit , speaking ability and literary style of Adlai Stevenson . Once Stevenson had been Eban's introducer at a mass meeting in the Chicago Stadium at which they became well enough acquainted so that for ...
-
富兰克林自传
By 本杰明·富兰克林《富兰克林自传》是美国迄今为止被广泛阅读的重要自传作品之一，无论从自传的角度还是从美国思想史的角度来看，都具有划时代的意义。富兰克林以拉家常的方式，把自己成功的 ...
-
富兰克林自传
By （美）本杰明·富兰克林, 李晓红, 郑侠译本书共分十九章,内容包括:波士顿家族轶事和幼年生活,少年人生之印刷工人,抵达费城,初回波士顿,费城的早期朋友们,初到伦敦,费城创业,创业成功和首次服务公众,完美品德计划 ...
-
希特勒的世界：一部心理传记
By （美）罗伯特·G.L.韦特著, 贾宇琰译然而,他们也多少有些称颂拿破仑的权力和政府。“只要你愿意,就可以弄响链条,”歌德说,“他对你来说太强大了。”黑格尔称拿破仑是“世界历史上的英雄”。而最有影响力的历史学家约翰内斯·冯·缪勒(Johanners von Müller),称赞拿破仑为“历史上无人可比的英雄”。