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Review
'Splendid ... A marvellously well-researched, balanced, and clear-sighted guide to this hideously controversial territory' Dominic Sandbrook, Evening Standard 'Jonathan Schneer's lively new account is very much a tale for our times ... his book is interspersed with delightful vignettes' David Cesarini, Literary Review 'Why did Britain offer the Jews a home in Palestine? Had they not already offered Palestine to the Arabs, two years earlier? This extraordinarily well-documented and revealing book gives the answers' Martin Gilbert, Mail on Sunday 'An excellent and compelling portrait of the intrigues, characters and diplomacy that created the modern Middle East' Simon Sebag Montefiore
Product Description
In the middle of the First World War, the British War Cabinet approved and issued a statement in the form of a letter that encouraged the settlement of the Jewish people in Palestine. Signed by the Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, the Balfour Declaration remains one of the most important documents of the last hundred years. Jonathan Schneer explores the story behind the declaration and its unforeseen consequences that have shaped the modern world, placing it in context paying attention to the fascinating characters who conceived, opposed and plotted around it - among them Lloyd George, Lord Rothschild, T.E. Lawrence, Prince Faisal and Aubrey Herbert (the man who was 'Greenmantle'). The Balfour Declaration brings vividly to life the origins of one of the world's longest lasting and most damaging conflicts.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The sub-title is a bit misleading. The story is very much about the circumstances surrounding the very short statement (on the aspiration for a Jewish national homeland) from Balfour to Walter Rothschild, and the story ends there. That is certainly be part of story the origins of the dispute between Israelis and Arabs but it is course a long way from the whole story.
Even this small part of the story is immensely complex. Schneer does a great job working through those complexities and in describing the personalities involved. The conflict between British Zionists and assimilationists is well described, and it is fascinating to weigh their respective arguments with the benefit of 90 years of subsequent history. The British government's focus on Britain's interests (as it perceived them) is clear and understandable in the circumstances of WW1. British duplicity cetainly didn't discriminate between Jews and Arabs or factions within those groups - Britain deceived anyone and everyone if it felt it was in is interests to do so. (As one suspects every nation does, particularly at times of national emergency - no-one who has read this book would be much surprised by anything revealed from Wikileaks about how diplomacy works).
Even this small part of the story is immensely complex. Schneer does a great job working through those complexities and in describing the personalities involved. The conflict between British Zionists and assimilationists is well described, and it is fascinating to weigh their respective arguments with the benefit of 90 years of subsequent history. The British government's focus on Britain's interests (as it perceived them) is clear and understandable in the circumstances of WW1. British duplicity cetainly didn't discriminate between Jews and Arabs or factions within those groups - Britain deceived anyone and everyone if it felt it was in is interests to do so. (As one suspects every nation does, particularly at times of national emergency - no-one who has read this book would be much surprised by anything revealed from Wikileaks about how diplomacy works).
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a very well written account of a highly complex episode of diplomacy.
I thoroughly enjoyed the read. The writer has done an excellent job in explicating all the threads of this entangled history. He did this by taking each thread, each piece of the jigsaw and painting the picture in imaginative and colourful detail. So, when he picks up the next thread he backtracks in time and tells the other story which chronologically really runs in parallel. And so forth with the next strands. All the time though he gives you a little glimpse of what the other strands are up to. And so he weaves a magnificent tapestry and you get the full picture of this crucial and colourful saga. (Whilst reading, I was reminded of Tarantino films like e.g. Pulp Fiction, where the chronology is chopped up, but in the end it all comes beautifully together.)
This is an exciting story of high diplomacy, intrigue and counter-intrigue. There is an abundance of great characters. I was left musing on the possibilities of an adventurous mini-series for television. Though I'm focussing here on the readability of the story and on its adventurousness, the writer, in my opinion, treats it with the seriousness it deserves and never forgets the terrible subsequent history of the region.
A commentator of another review (Danny of Arabia) has implied - I think - some bias in this account (though I'm not sure from his comments whether he actually read this book or only some blogs by the author). I don't know enough to judge this, but to me the narrative seemed pretty fair to all parties - but due to lack of knowledge I am unable to tell whether crucial bits of history were left out or distorted etc. Still, the book has whet my appetite for more and surely the more different authors you read the less chance of bias. All in all I recommend this book as a great narration of a complex and sensitive topic which remains relevant today.
I thoroughly enjoyed the read. The writer has done an excellent job in explicating all the threads of this entangled history. He did this by taking each thread, each piece of the jigsaw and painting the picture in imaginative and colourful detail. So, when he picks up the next thread he backtracks in time and tells the other story which chronologically really runs in parallel. And so forth with the next strands. All the time though he gives you a little glimpse of what the other strands are up to. And so he weaves a magnificent tapestry and you get the full picture of this crucial and colourful saga. (Whilst reading, I was reminded of Tarantino films like e.g. Pulp Fiction, where the chronology is chopped up, but in the end it all comes beautifully together.)
This is an exciting story of high diplomacy, intrigue and counter-intrigue. There is an abundance of great characters. I was left musing on the possibilities of an adventurous mini-series for television. Though I'm focussing here on the readability of the story and on its adventurousness, the writer, in my opinion, treats it with the seriousness it deserves and never forgets the terrible subsequent history of the region.
A commentator of another review (Danny of Arabia) has implied - I think - some bias in this account (though I'm not sure from his comments whether he actually read this book or only some blogs by the author). I don't know enough to judge this, but to me the narrative seemed pretty fair to all parties - but due to lack of knowledge I am unable to tell whether crucial bits of history were left out or distorted etc. Still, the book has whet my appetite for more and surely the more different authors you read the less chance of bias. All in all I recommend this book as a great narration of a complex and sensitive topic which remains relevant today.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book details the machinations of all sides over Palestine in WWI.
It tracks the dreadfully cynical moves made by the British Foreign Office mandarins as they proceed to get hold of the wrong end of the stick from all ends and make an utter mess of the whole region as they try to play the Arabs, Turks and Jews off against each other.
The Arabs, Turks and Jews seem to fulfil their stereotypes as well with the Turks being corrupt but patriotic, the Arabs elegant, devious, murderous and incompetent and the Jews bluffing with a hand that holds no aces, and somehow managing to win the game in the end.
It's all beautifully written with the author almost refusing to believe the levels of deviousness the British stoop to at some points.
What did he expect? The management of empire and the post war carve-up after the First World War is Perfidious Albion at her most murderously incompetent...
It tracks the dreadfully cynical moves made by the British Foreign Office mandarins as they proceed to get hold of the wrong end of the stick from all ends and make an utter mess of the whole region as they try to play the Arabs, Turks and Jews off against each other.
The Arabs, Turks and Jews seem to fulfil their stereotypes as well with the Turks being corrupt but patriotic, the Arabs elegant, devious, murderous and incompetent and the Jews bluffing with a hand that holds no aces, and somehow managing to win the game in the end.
It's all beautifully written with the author almost refusing to believe the levels of deviousness the British stoop to at some points.
What did he expect? The management of empire and the post war carve-up after the First World War is Perfidious Albion at her most murderously incompetent...
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Must Read
As a historian and former journalist I can say that if you can only read one book on the politics, and confluence of events, people, interests and myths concerning `Jewish World... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Dr Peter Guy Silverman
Very useful for an understanding of the Middle East today
A well written and excellently researched book that is invaluable for giving an appreciation of the background to a piece of UK statesmanship that has repercussions today. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Richard1956
balfour - attempting to square the circle
The 1917 Balfour declaration makes commitments both to the Jewish people in offering them a home in Palestine & at the same time a commitment to the indigenous Arab population,... Read more
Published 20 months ago by H. E. Knobil
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