
Israel
A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth
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Narrated by:
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Noa Tishby
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By:
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Noa Tishby
About this listen
AUDIO EXCLUSIVE: INCLUDES THE SONG “ELATION STATION” BY INFECTED MUSHROOM!
A “fascinating and very moving” (Aaron Sorkin, award-winning screenwriter of The West Wing and The Social Network) chronological timeline spanning from Biblical times to today that explores one of the most interesting countries in the world—Israel.
Israel. The small strip of arid land is 5,700 miles away but remains a hot-button issue and a thorny topic of debate. But while everyone seems to have a strong opinion about Israel, how many people actually know the facts?
Here to fill in the information gap is Israeli American Noa Tishby. But “this is not your Bubbie’s history book” (Bill Maher, host of Real Time with Bill Maher). Instead, offering a fresh, 360-degree view, Tishby brings her “passion, humor, and deep intimacy” (Yossi Klein Halevi, New York Times bestselling author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor) to the subject, creating an accessible and dynamic portrait of a tiny country of outsized relevance. Through bite-sized chunks of history and deeply personal stories, Tishby chronicles her homeland’s evolution, beginning in Biblical times and moving forward to cover everything from WWI to Israel’s creation to the disputes dividing the country today. Tackling popular misconceptions with an abundance of facts, Tishby provides critical context around headline-generating controversies and offers a clear, intimate account of the richly cultured country of Israel.
©2021 Noa Tishby. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.What listeners say about Israel
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- London
- 10-06-23
Great attempt to address complexities of Israel
The book, through personal stories and with great sense of humour, makes a strong case for the only democracy in Middle East - showing that while it’s not perfect, it’s still an amazing country thanks to perseverance, culture of innovation and, let’s be honest, a bit of ‘hutzpa’ of it’s ‘prickly pear’-like citizens
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- Anonymous User
- 18-05-23
Wildly informative and approachable.
Refreshing and restrained perspective. I learned a lot and had long calcified opinions challenged and overturned! Highly recommended.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Graeme Clark
- 24-11-23
Engaging and educational
Given the current situation in Israel, I took it upon myself to discover why Jewish people and Israel have always been persecuted around the world. I found my answers in this book. It was not only well written and read, but also very informative and exceptionally engaging. It is not anti Palistinian, in fact, there is alot of support for the Palistinian people in this book. Whichever side of the fence you sit, please listen to this book and educate yourself as you will be surprised.
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- Rachel
- 09-03-23
Outstanding
Facts will get you everywhere. With passion. personality and honesty, a great book, well written.
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- david brin
- 12-06-21
Brilliant
Combining a reasoned and cogent factual narrative with a a fascinating personal story and family history this book should be read by everyone with any interest in finding out the true story of Israel.
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- DB
- 18-01-24
A relatively non-biased truth about a misunderstood country 
I would recommend this book to anyone that is Jewish or non-Jewish anyone that disagrees or agrees with Israel, even dislikes Israel, you will take many things out of this book as long as you coming with an open mind.
Thank you Noa. It seems that we come from very similar political backgrounds. As in Israeli that has now been living in the UK for over 30 years, I have been struggling to explain Israel and you have managed to do it in one book.
Dealing with the politics, religion, the history and the humanity of everything. .
Thank you so much. 
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- Mrs C Mitchell
- 23-06-24
An amazing book
When I was at school my final exam was a dissertation and a 30 minute presentation on a subject of my choice, I choose The state of Israel. Why? Because this young northern working class girl from a mining background admired what this country had achieved in its short life and how its people had made its country.
I researched throughly and I achieved excellent marks but I wish I could have read a book like this in 1973. It is a book that really informs and explains and was truly worth reading. Well done Noa I love your passion and your book is fantastic.
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- Linda Neave
- 24-01-24
FINALLY I HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING OF THIS CONFLICT
Noa Tishby explains the history of the Jewish people from biblical times to the present day. I wanted to understand what has caused the ongoing conflict between the Jews and Muslims and wanted it explaining in a way I could understand. This book does that. It is a good book and I am glad I bought it. If I have a complaint it is the unnecessary swearing she feels the need to use but then books these days seem to be under the impression that throwing in the occasional swear word improves the story. Sorry it doesn’t it merely serves to cheapen the book if it cannot be written without it. Also I found the undercurrent of Wokeism rather irritating.
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3 people found this helpful
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- DAK
- 16-05-22
A masterpiece!
A well written book beautifully read.
Factual and also entertaining. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was hooked from the beginning. The author who is also the narrator is wonderful. I highly recommend this title.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Anat L
- 08-01-24
Perfect overview
This book is everything I hoped.
It manages to encapsulate so much history and information and neatly present it with a bow as well as truly capture us Israelis as people, our nature and our story.
Highly recommend to anyone who wishes to truly understand Israel, Israelis, Judaism, the conflict etc.
With so much negative discourse around the world it would be my wish for more people to pick up this book to gain further knowledge and perspective. Only with tolerance will we have an better collective future.
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