Theodor Herzl

“An engrossing account of a leader who, by converting despair into strength, gave an exiled people both political purpose and the means to attain it.”—Benjamin Balint, Wall Street Journal Winner of the 2020 Canadian Jewish Literary Award in the history category, sponsored by the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies “Derek Penslar, the most original scholar on the history of Zionism today, has written a masterful book, which may indeed become the definitive Herzl biography of our age.”—Michael Brenner, author of A Short History of the Jews “Theodor Herzl was the indispensable catalyst of the Zionist movement that began before him, developed independently of him, and prevailed on its own decades after his death. Penslar’s book unlocks this paradox, and in richly providing the historical context of his leadership, magnifies its achievement.”—Ruth R. Wisse, author of Jews and Power  “Derek Penslar has found in Theodor Herzl an amazingly complex character and tells his story with deep insight and great fairness. This biography is innovative, carefully balanced, and engrossing.”—Tom Segev, author of A State at Any Cost: The Life of David Ben-Gurion “In his pitch-perfect biography for a new century, accomplished historian Derek Penslar portrays the psychic traits that allowed Theodor Herzl to be elevated by the longings of a fledgling Zionist movement, which he in turn elevated into a political cause that has redefined Jewish and world history down to our present. An elegant masterpiece.”—Samuel Moyn, Yale University