Ranen Omer-Sherman spent thirteen years in the Arava desert as a kibbutznik, guide, and ranger. He is an assistant professor of English at the University of Miami, and the author of Diaspora and Zionism in Jewish American Literature.

"Israel in Exile evokes the importance of a critical and subversive Diaspora perspective for an Israeli society that has not yet found its territorial and individual identity. . . . Raises important questions for the political situation in Israel today."--Shofar"An invaluable addition to scholarship on Jewish literature both biblical and contemporary."--Journal of Jewish Identities "This is an important book."--Religion & Literature