A State at Any Cost

Tom Segev's meticulously researched and most elegantly written new biography of David Ben-Gurion is a must for anybody interested in both the glorious and the dark pages of the history of Zionism and Israel, as reflected throughout the life and times of the Jewish State's most important founding father -- Saul Friedlander, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Nazi Germany and the Jews and Where Memory Leads In the course of six years of research, Segev [...] discovered a leader fraught with dramatic contrasts... The author has come up with significant historical revelations' * Ofer Aderet, Haaretz * Fascinating... A masterly portrait of a titanic yet unfulfilled man... This is a gripping study of power, and the loneliness of power' * Economist * [A] carefully researched and nonjudgemental biography... Tom Segev's A State at Any Cost aptly summarizes the lodestar of Ben-Gurion's life' -- Avraham Avi-hai, Jerusalem Post Deserves to be the definitive biography of Ben-Gurion. It is the story of a hard-headed, pragmatic and ruthless politician, told without sentimentality or nostalgia. It also serves as a key to understanding today's Israel, which is still very much Ben-Gurion's creation * The Times * Tom Segev has completed a monumental task. The work includes the research of a true detective -- Avner Cohen, author of Israel and the Bomb [A] body of work that has no equal either for the brilliance of his storytelling or the ironies of his analysis * London Review of Books * Without doubt one of the best biographies to have been written about David Ben-Gurion... Segev manages to hold the reader's attention' * Literary Review * The book offers an appreciation of the life of an extraordinary man and an understanding of the values, political attitudes and the very concept of the Zionist State... For readers with an interest in the subject, the book is worthwhile, informative and rewarding' * Pennant Magazine. * Authoritative... [Segev] gives us a many-sided character, showing Ben-Gurion's strengths and weaknesses, great moments and cruelties, successes and failures. If you want a balanced account of what has long been a controversial state, this is a good place to start, and Segev is already well known for the excellence of his writing on Israel' * Sorted. *