I just finished To Jerusalem and Back, by Saul Bellow. I thought the book was excellent. Saul Bellow usually writes fiction, so it was a different genre than he usually writes. It was more a series of approximately 100 essays, organized into a book. Good book concerned broadly Middle Eastern politics and some religious issues, focusing on the mid-1970's. That was a period of time that Israel was in in the shadow of the 1973 war between Israel and the Arabs. The book focused around discussions with 1970's-era academicians and politicians. Those people and the author made some predictions that did not pan out. For example, Egypt negotiated real peace with Israel, whereas the other surrounding powers, as predicted by the book, did no

The book is a good read for people with a deep interest in history, and the way things were during an earlier period. It is the kind of book that for other readers would seem dated. ( )

regalo di Ina, interessantissimo, solito tema questione ebraica, premio nobel autore

Published in 1976, this nonfiction book consists of Bellow's reflections on his trip to Israel and the history and future of the country and the Jewish race. Bellow is Jewish, and he makes no apologies for his obviously biased point of view. I also think that the book would have been easier to read if it had been more organized and if he had rambled less. While the topic is interesting, this book is just too dated to be worth reading today. ( )

Author's 1975 stay in Israel, his personal record and meditation.

Trip to Israel. Arab-Israeli conflict; personal biography