Help Support H-Net! | Visit New Books Network en Español!

New Books Network
Israel Studies
Jewish Studies March 21, 2023

Jewish Antifascism and the False Promise of Settler Colonialism

Max Kaiser

Hosted by Miriam Schulz
Max Kaiser's book Jewish Antifascism and the False Promise of Settler Colonialism (Palgrave MacMillan, 2022) takes a timely look at histories of radical Jewish movements, their modes of Holocaust memorialisation, and …

Israel Studies

Subscribe:

Interviews with scholars of Israel about their new books.

Jewish Studies March 8, 2023

From Sinai to Ethiopia

The Halakhic and Conceptual World of the Ethiopian Jews

Sharon Shalom

Hosted by Drora Arussy
Some two thousand years ago, a group of Jews settled in Ethiopia and was for millennia cut off from the rest of world Jewry, preserving its heritage with great self-sacrifice …
Almost Good Catholics February 23, 2023

Digging for Answers

The Archaeology of Jerusalem and the Politics of Archaeology

Katharina Galor

Hosted by Krzysztof Odyniec
Katharina Galor, an archaeology professor at the at the Program in Judaic Studies at Brown University who has done a lot of excavation in Israel, is the author of The …
Middle Eastern Studies February 21, 2023

Palestine 1936

The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict

Oren Kessler

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
In spring 1936, the Holy Land erupted in a rebellion that targeted both the local Jewish community and the British Mandate authorities that for two decades had midwifed the Zionist …
Israel Studies February 4, 2023

The History of Galilee, 1538-1949

Mysticism, Modernization, and War

M. M. Silver

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
This study of Galilee in modern times reaches back to the region's Biblical roots and points to future challenges in the Arab-Jewish conflict, Israel's development, and inter-faith relations. M. M. Silver's …
Darts & Letters February 1, 2023

Discordia Revisited

The Concordia Netanyahu Riot of 2002

Hosted by Gordon Katic
20 years ago at Concordia University in Montreal pro-Palestinian protestors clashed with police over whether Benjamin Netanyahu should be allowed to speak on campus. Windows were smashed, arrests were made …
Middle Eastern Studies January 29, 2023

Water the Willow Tree

Memoirs of a Bethlehem Boyhood

George Anton Kiraz

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
In Water the Willow Tree: Memoirs of a Bethlehem Boyhood (Gorgias Press, 2022), George A. Kiraz tells the story of a young Palestinian boy growing up in Bethlehem, fascinated with …
Nomads, Past and Present January 27, 2023

Words Like Daggers: The Political Poetry of the Negev Bedouin

Kobi Peled

Hosted by Maggie Freeman
For generations, the composition and recitation of poetry has been a key mode of expression among Bedouin populations in the Middle East, reflecting social norms, religious practices, relationships with the …
Jewish Studies January 11, 2023

The Lives of Jessie Sampter

Queer, Disabled, Zionist

Sarah Imhoff

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
In The Lives of Jessie Sampter: Queer, Disabled, Zionist (Duke UP, 2022), Sarah Imhoff tells the story of an individual full of contradictions. Jessie Sampter (1883-1938) was best known for her …
Jewish Studies January 11, 2023

Etrog

How A Chinese Fruit Became a Jewish Symbol

David Z. Moster

Hosted by Matthew Miller
Every year before the holiday of Sukkot, Jews all around the world purchase an etrog―a lemon-like fruit―to participate in the holiday ritual. In Etrog: How A Chinese Fruit Became a …
Israel Studies January 8, 2023

Candies from Heaven

Gil Hovav

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
"Uncle Aron's compliments, which hadn't changed since the days of the Bible, didn't sound so great. One time, he told my mother that she was 'awesome like an army with …
Diplomatic History January 8, 2023

Unofficial Peace Diplomacy

Private Peace Entrepreneurs in Conflict Resolution Processes

Lior Lehrs

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Unofficial Peace Diplomacy: Private Peace Entrepreneurs in Conflict Resolution Processes (Manchester University Press, 2022) by Dr. Lior Lehrs analyses the international phenomenon of private peace entrepreneurs. These are private citizens …
Nomads, Past and Present January 7, 2023

Bordering the Bedouin

Hosted by Maggie Freeman
Contemporary issues like the refugee crisis, climate refugees, and global restrictions on movement caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have brought into stark relief the extent to which our movements, lives …
Israel Studies December 27, 2022

Profiles in Peace

Voices of Peacebuilders in the Midst of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Ron Kronish

Hosted by Phil Cohen
Rabbi Ron Kronish spent thirty years directing the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel (ICCI), an interfaith organization devoted to promoting dialogue in Israel. Utilizing the tools of interfaith dialogue, the …
Israel Studies December 26, 2022

Life in Citations

Biblical Narratives and Contemporary Hebrew Culture

Ruth Tsoffar

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
In her latest book, Life in Citations: Biblical Narratives and Contemporary Hebrew Culture (Routledge, 2019), Ruth Tsoffar studies several key biblical narratives that figure prominently in Israeli culture. Life in Citations …
Environmental Studies December 18, 2022

A Landscape of War

Ecologies of Resistance and Survival in South Lebanon

Munira Khayyat

Hosted by Eyad Houssami
What worlds take root in war? In A Landscape of War: Ecologies of Resistance and Survival in South Lebanon (U California Press, 2022), anthropologist Munira Khayyat describes life along the …
Israel Studies December 8, 2022

Reaching for the Heights

The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace

Frederic C. Hof

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace (USIP, 2022) is an insider’s account of secret negotiations to broker a Syria-Israel peace …
Islamic Studies December 4, 2022

Hamas and Ideology

Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qara?awi on the Jews, Zionism and Israel

Shaul Bartal and Nesya Rubinstein-Shemer

Hosted by Yakir Englander
Sheikh Yusūf al- Qaraḍāwī is regarded as the most influential contemporary Muslim religious figure. His best-selling book, Al-Ḥalal wal-Ḥaram fi al-Islam ("The Forbidden and the Permitted in Islam") is …
Middle Eastern Studies December 4, 2022

Transnational Palestine

Migration and the Right of Return Before 1948

Nadim Bawalsa

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
Tens of thousands of Palestinians migrated to the Americas in the final decades of the nineteenth century and early decades of the twentieth. By 1936, an estimated 40,000 Palestinians lived …
Literature November 24, 2022

The Cage

Fida Jiryis

Hosted by Yakir Englander
Ha-Kluv (The Cage) is a Hebrew anthology of selected short stories by Fida Jiryis, which she originally published in Arabic. The stories speak of the life of Palestinians in Israel …