With contributions from some of the leading scholars of Zionism and Israeli history, this comprehensive new volume addresses many of the intellectual, social and political ramifications of Jewish settlement in Israel before the creation of the state of Israel.The Middle East, March 2000Efraim Karsh's well edited volume represents thoroughly scholarly and well researched work. Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies

• Part 1: Nations, nationalism and state-building1. Sacred territories and national conflict Anthony D. Smith 2. From "state within a state" to state David Vital 3. From civil society to sovereign state - the Israeli experience and the Palestinian quest Donna RobinsonDivine Part 2: The making of the Yishuv 4. The Jews in Eretz-Israel/Palestine - from traditional peripherally to modern centrality Ruth Kark and Joseph B. Glass 5. The boundaries of mandatory Palestine - how the past influences the future Gideon Biger 6. Zionism and Jerusalem - the conflict of priorities - changes in Zionist settlement in the Jerusalem vicinity, 1937-48, Yossi Katz 7. Railways in Israel - the past and the future, Walter Rothschild 8. The Hebrew absorption of German literature I the Yishuv Na'ama Sheffi 9. The ideological and political background of the Israel defence forces Yaacov N. Goldstein Part 3: The struggle for independence 10. Jewish armed struggle in Palestine in the 1940s - its impact on British morale and public opinion Shaul Zadka 11. The other side of the coin - Arab propaganda and the battle against Zionism in London, 1937-48, Rory Miller 12. The Jewish and Arab lobbies in Canada and the UN partition of Palestine Eliezer Tauber