I am not going to say I enjoyed this, it felt like enrolling in a very difficult one-week class. I will say it is the single most even-handed, well-written, well-supported book I have read about the formation of Israel and the roots of the Arab-Israeli problem. I am shocked by how little I knew about the first Arab uprising, and I am more shocked by how much it sounds like the current war. I did not realize I was blaming Britain far too much for some things, and not nearly enough for many others. I also did not realize how close they came to partition and the possible peace that might have facilitated. I give this all the stars. If you want to understand what is happening now you should read this. As Faulkner said: "The past is never dead. It's not even past." Or maybe as Shakespeare said, "the past is prologue." I am pretty sure one of those is right. ( )