<div>Major and Mrs. Holt's Battlefield Guide to the Somme is, without doubt, one of the best-selling guide books to the battlefields of the Somme. This latest updated edition, includes four recommended, timed itineraries representing one day's traveling. Every stop on route has an accompanying description and often a tale of heroic or tragic action.Memorials, private and official, sites of memorable conflict, the resting places of personalities of note are all drawn together with sympathetic and understanding commentary that gives the reader a sensitivity towards the events of 1916.</div>

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Major & Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide to the Somme

<div>&ldquo;A travelogue, spanning two weeks, of the essential sites of the Holocaust, by the venerable historian and author . . . [A] soul-searching trip&rdquo; (Kirkus Reviews). In 1996, prominent Holocaust historian Sir Martin Gilbert embarked on a fourteen-day journey into the past with a group of his graduate students from University College, London. Their destination? Places where the terrible events of the Holocaust had left their mark in Europe. From the railway lines near Auschwitz to the site of Oskar Schindler&rsquo;s heroic efforts in Cracow, Poland, Holocaust Journey features intimate personal meditations from one of our greatest modern historians, and is supported by wartime documents, letters, and diaries&mdash;as well as over fifty photographs and maps by the author&mdash;all of which help interweave Gilbert&rsquo;s trip with his students with the surrounding history of the towns, camps, and other locations visited. The result is a narrative of the Holocaust that ties the past to the present with poignancy and power. &ldquo;Gilbert . . . is a dedicated guide to this difficult material. We can be grateful for his thoroughness, courage and guidance.&rdquo; &mdash;Los Angeles Times Book Review </div>

Holocaust Journey

<div>An in-depth look at the misguided foreign policy of appeasement towards Hitler and the Third Reich during World War II&mdash;from a world renowned historian. World War II and its attendant horrors arguably began in the British policy of appeasement of the Nazi rise to power between the First and Second World Wars. In this compelling work, Martin Gilbert walks the reader through several decades of behavior that, in retrospect, is hard to accept. Gilbert&rsquo;s incisive focus on primary sources uncovers the real reasons for the appeasement policy, from the search for a just peace to attempts to avoid another war at all costs&mdash;illuminating the historical underpinnings of a fatally flawed policy and its tragic consequences for the Jewish people. This book also contains a chronology of appeasement policy as well as five specially drawn maps and five appendices&mdash;including a transcript of British statesman and politician David Lloyd George&rsquo;s conversation with Hitler at Berchtesgaden in 1936.</div>

The Roots of Appeasement

<div>Volume three of this authoritative Churchill biography chronicles his years of triumphant leadership in the Admiralty during World War I. Acclaimed British historian Sir Martin Gilbert continues the official biography of Sir Winston S. Churchill the eventful period between 1914 and 1916, with a full account of his achievements as first lord of the Admiralty during the Great War. These include Churchill&rsquo;s efforts to prolong the siege of Antwerp, his support for the use of air power, and his part in the early development of the tank. It shows the forcefulness with which he argued for an offensive naval policy, first against Germany, then against Turkey. Gilbert examines the political crisis of May 1915, during which the Conservative Party forced Asquith to form a coalition government. The Conservatives insisted that Churchill leave the center of war policymaking for a position of increasing political isolation. In the next seven months, while the Gallipoli campaign was being fought, Churchill served as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, with no authority over military or naval policy. Resigning from the cabinet in November 1915, Churchill was appointed lieutenant-colonel, commanding an infantry battalion in the trenches of the Western Front. In May 1916, he returned from the trenches, hoping to reenter political life, but his repeated attempts to regain his once-substantial influence were unsuccessful. &ldquo;A milestone, a monument, a magisterial achievement . . . rightly regarded as the most comprehensive life ever written of any age.&rdquo; &mdash;Andrew Roberts, historian and author of The Storm of War &ldquo;The most scholarly study of Churchill in war and peace ever written.&rdquo; &mdash;Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times</div>

Winston S. Churchill: The Challenge of War, 1914–1916

<div>A history of Judaism written in letters from historian Martin Gilbert to his acquaintance in India, who wants to learn more about her ancestry. At her ninetieth birthday celebration in New Delhi, &ldquo;Auntie Fori&rdquo; revealed to her longtime acquaintance, Sir Martin Gilbert, that she was not of Indian birth but actually Hungarian&mdash;and Jewish. She did not know what this Jewish identity involved, historically or spiritually, and asked him to enlighten her. In response, Gilbert embarked on the series of letters that have been gathered to form this book, shaping each one as a concise, individually formed story. He presents Jewish history as the narrative expression&mdash;the timeline&mdash;of the Jewish faith, and the faith as it is informed by the history. In Sir Martin&rsquo;s hands, these stories are rich in incident and achievement, starting with Adam and Eve through the Biblical and post-Biblical periods, to the long history of the Jews in the Diaspora, and ending with an unexpected visit to an outpost of Jewry in Anchorage, Alaska. Ranging through almost every country in the world&mdash;including China and India&mdash;he maintains a chronological structure, weaving in the history of other peoples and faiths, to give Auntie Fori, and us, a sense of the larger stage on which Jewish history has played out. &ldquo;Compact, breezy, and thoroughly enjoyable . . . For those, like Auntie Fori, hoping to understand the Jewish past and present, this book is a treasure.&rdquo; &mdash;Booklist</div>

The Story of the Jewish People

<div>&ldquo;A stunning achievement of research and storytelling&rdquo; that weaves together the major fronts of WWI into a single, sweeping narrative (Publishers Weekly, starred review). It was to be the war to end all wars, and it began at 11:15 on the morning of June 28, 1914, in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire called Sarajevo. It would officially end nearly five years later. Unofficially, however, it has never ended: Many of the horrors we live with today are rooted in the First World War. The Great War left millions of civilians and soldiers maimed or dead. It also saw the creation of new technologies of destruction: tanks, planes, and submarines; machine guns and field artillery; poison gas and chemical warfare. It introduced U-boat packs and strategic bombing, unrestricted war on civilians and mistreatment of prisoners. But the war changed our world in far more fundamental ways than these. In its wake, empires toppled, monarchies fell, and whole populations lost their national identities. As political systems and geographic boundaries were realigned, the social order shifted seismically. Manners and cultural norms; literature and the arts; education and class distinctions; all underwent a vast sea change. As historian Martin Gilbert demonstrates in this &ldquo;majestic opus&rdquo; of historical synthesis, the twentieth century can be said to have been born on that fateful morning in June of 1914 (Publishers Weekly, starred review). &ldquo;One of the first books that anyone should read . . . to try to understand this war and this century.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times Book Review </div>

The First World War

<div>The fourth volume in the official biography&mdash;&ldquo;The most scholarly study of Churchill in war and peace ever written&rdquo; (Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times). Covering the years 1916 to 1922, Martin Gilbert&rsquo;s fascinating account carefully traces Churchill&rsquo;s wide-ranging activities and shows how, by his persuasive oratory, administrative skill, and masterful contributions to Cabinet discussions, Churchill regained, only a few years after the disaster of the Dardanelles, a leading position in British political life. Included are many dramatic and controversial episodes: the German breakthrough on the Western Front in March 1918, the anti-Bolshevik intervention in 1919, negotiating the Irish Treaty, consolidating the Jewish National Home in Palestine, and the Chanak crisis with Turkey. In all these, and many other events, Churchill&rsquo;s leading role is explained and illuminated in Martin Gilbert&rsquo;s precise, masterful style. In a moving final chapter, covering a period when Churchill was without a seat in Parliament for the first time since 1900, Martin Gilbert brilliantly draws together the many strands of a time in Churchill&rsquo;s life when his political triumphs were overshadowed by personal sorrows, by his increasingly somber reflections on the backward march of nations and society, and by his stark forecasts of dangers to come. &ldquo;A milestone, a monument, a magisterial achievement . . . Rightly regarded as the most comprehensive life ever written of any age.&rdquo; &mdash;Andrew Roberts, historian and author of The Storm of War</div>

Winston S. Churchill: World in Torment, 1916–1922

<div>A thoughtful and rigorous examination of the Jewish experience under Hitler&rsquo;s &ldquo;Final Solution&rdquo;&mdash;based on eyewitness accounts and contemporary evidence. Focusing on firsthand narratives from survivors and supported by contextual scholarship, Gilbert presents a masterful cross-section of the experiences of the millions of European Jews who lost their homes, careers, families, and lives at the hands of Hitler&rsquo;s &ldquo;Final Solution.&rdquo; The accounts of these journeys are at once unique and unified by both their tragedy and by their triumphs. Gilbert&rsquo;s vast knowledge on the subject, coupled with his frank and readable style, makes Final Journey accessible to readers and scholars alike. The text is supported by eighty-four photographs&mdash;many of which were published for the first time in 1979&mdash;and twenty-four pages of maps prepared by the author, which help bring the stories of the men, women, and children back to life in unflinching detail. </div>

Final Journey

<div>The &ldquo;important and engrossing&rdquo; fifth volume of the official Churchill biography chronicles his visionary leadership in the tense years approaching WWII (Foreign Affairs). This acclaimed biographical masterpiece opens with Winston S. Churchill&rsquo;s return to Conservatism and to the cabinet in 1924. The narrative unfolds into a vivid and intimate picture of his public life as well as his private world at Chartwell between the wars. With ample access to Churchill&rsquo;s private papers, Martin Gilbert strips away decades of accumulated myth and innuendo, showing the stateman&rsquo;s true position on India, his precise role (and private thoughts) during the abdication of Edward VIII, his attitude toward Mussolini, and his profound fears for the future of European democracy. Even before Hitler came to power in Germany, Churchill saw the dangers of a Nazi victory. And despite the unpopularity of his views in official circles, he persevered for six years in sounding the alarm against fascism. This book reveals for the first time the extent senior civil servants, and even serving officers of high rank, came to Churchill with secret information, having despaired at the magnitude of official lethargy and obstruction. Within the Air Ministry, the Foreign Office, and the Intelligence Services, individuals felt drawn to provide Churchill with full disclosures of Britain&rsquo;s defense weakness, keeping him informed of day-to-day developments from 1934 until the outbreak of war. People of all parties and in all walks of life recognized Churchill&rsquo;s unique qualities and demanded his inclusion in the government, believing he alone could give a divided nation guidance and inspiration. &ldquo;A milestone, a monument, a magisterial achievement . . . rightly regarded as the most comprehensive life ever written of any age.&rdquo; &mdash;Andrew Roberts, historian and author of The Storm of War &ldquo;The most scholarly study of Churchill in war and peace ever written.&rdquo; &mdash;Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times</div>

Winston S. Churchill: The Prophet of Truth, 1922–1939

<div>A work forty years in the making&mdash;Sir Martin Gilbert&rsquo;s illustrated survey of the pre- and post-war history of the Jewish people in Europe. Masterfully covering such topics as pre-war Jewish life, the Warsaw Ghetto revolt, and the reflections of Holocaust survivors, Gilbert interweaves firsthand accounts with unforgettable photographs and documents, which come together to form a three-dimensional portrait of the lives of the Jewish people during one of Europe&rsquo;s darkest times. &ldquo;This volume introduces the crime to a new generation, so that it knows of the atrocities and the seemingly futile acts of defiance taken, in the words of Judah Tenenbaum, &lsquo;for three lines in the history books.&rsquo;&rdquo; &mdash;Booklist</div>

Never Again

<div>The renowned historian weaves a definitive account of the Holocaust&mdash;from Hitler&rsquo;s rise to power to the final defeat of the Nazis in 1945. Rich with eyewitness accounts, incisive interviews, and first-hand source materials&mdash;including documentation from the Eichmann and Nuremberg war crime trials&mdash;this sweeping narrative begins with an in-depth historical analysis of the origins of anti-Semitism in Europe, and tracks the systematic brutality of Hitler&rsquo;s &ldquo;Final Solution&rdquo; in unflinching detail. It brings to light new source materials documenting Mengele&rsquo;s diabolical concentration camp experiments and documents the activities of Himmler, Eichmann, and other Nazi leaders. It also demonstrates comprehensive evidence of Jewish resistance and the heroic efforts of Gentiles to aid and shelter Jews and others targeted for extermination, even at the risk of their own lives. Combining survivor testimonies, deft historical analysis, and painstaking research, The Holocaust is without doubt a masterwork of World War II history. &ldquo;A fascinating work that overwhelms us with its truth . . . This book must be read and reread.&rdquo; &mdash;Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prizing&ndash;winning author of Night</div>

The Holocaust

<div>&ldquo;The most comprehensive account of Israeli history yet published&rdquo; (Efraim Karsh, The Sunday Telegraph). Fleeing persecution in Europe, thousands of Jewish immigrants settled in Palestine after World War II. Renowned historian Martin Gilbert crafts a riveting account of Israel&rsquo;s turbulent history, from the birth of the Zionist movement under Theodor Herzl to the unexpected declaration of its statehood in 1948, and through the many wars, conflicts, treaties, negotiations, and events that have shaped its past six decades&mdash;including the Six Day War, the Intifada, Suez, and the Yom Kippur War. Drawing on a wealth of first-hand source materials, eyewitness accounts, and his own personal and intimate knowledge of the country, Gilbert weaves a complex narrative that&rsquo;s both gripping and informative, and probes both the ideals and realities of modern statehood. &ldquo;Martin Gilbert has left us in his debt, not only for a superlative history of Israel, but also for a restatement of the classic vision of Zion, in which a Middle East without guns is not a bedtime story but an imperative long overdue. This is the vision for which Yitzhak Rabin gave his life. This book is tribute to his memory.&rdquo; &mdash;Jonathan Sacks, The Times (London)</div>

Israel

<div>The first volume of this authoritative biography chronicles the prime minister&rsquo;s youth from birth to early adulthood: &ldquo;An intimate, eloquent testimonial&rdquo; (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Winston S. Churchill&rsquo;s son, Randolph, delivers a vivid, personal portrait of his father in this first part of an eight-volume biography that is widely considered the &ldquo;most scholarly study of Churchill in war and peace ever written&rdquo; (The New York Times). Told through a rich treasure trove of the Churchill&rsquo;s personal letters, this volume covers his life from early childhood to his return to England from an American lecture tour, on the day of Queen Victoria&rsquo;s funeral in 1900, in order to embark on his political career. In the opening pages, the account of his birth in 1874 is presented through letters of his family. The subject comes on the scene with his own words in a letter to his mother, written when he was seven. His later letters, as a child, as a schoolboy at Harrow, as a cadet at Sandhurst, and as a subaltern in India, show the development of his mind and character, his ambition and awakening interests, which were to merge into a unique genius destined for world leadership. An astounding narrative of a formidable man coming into his own and the times in which he lived, this portrait is a &ldquo;milestone, a monument, a magisterial achievement . . . rightly regarded as the most comprehensive life ever written of any age.&rdquo; (Andrew Roberts, historian and author of The Storm of War).</div>

Winston S. Churchill: Youth, 1874–1900

<div>A thorough analysis of Allied actions after learning about the horrors of Nazi concentration camps&mdash;includes survivors&rsquo; firsthand accounts. Why did they wait so long? Among the myriad questions of what the Allies could have done differently in World War II, understanding why it took them so long to respond to the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps&mdash;specifically Auschwitz&mdash;remains vital today. In Auschwitz and the Allies, Martin Gilbert presents a comprehensive look into the series of decisions that helped shape this particular course of the war, and the fate of millions of people, through his eminent blend of exhaustive devotion to the facts and accessible, graceful writing. Featuring twenty maps prepared specifically for this history and thirty-four photographs, along with firsthand accounts by escaped Auschwitz prisoners, Gilbert reconstructs the span of time between Allied awareness and definitive action in the face of overwhelming evidence of Nazi atrocities. &ldquo;An unforgettable contribution to the history of the last war.&rdquo; &mdash;Jewish Chronicle </div>

Auschwitz and the Allies

<div>The seventh volume of the acclaimed, official biography: &ldquo;An engrossing history of Churchill&rsquo;s crucial role in the grand alliance of World War II&rdquo; (Los Angeles Times). This seventh volume in the epic, multivolume biography of Winston S. Churchill takes up the story of &ldquo;Churchill&rsquo;s War&rdquo; with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and carries it on to the triumph of V-E Day, May 8, 1945, the end of the war in Europe. Acclaimed historian Martin Gilbert charts Churchill&rsquo;s course through the storms of Anglo-American and Anglo-Soviet rivalry, and between the conflicting ambitions of other forces embattled against the common enemy: between General de Gaulle, his compatriots in France, and the French Empire; between Tito and other Yugoslav leaders; between the Greek Communists and monarchists; between the Polish government exiled in London and the Soviet-controlled &ldquo;Lublin&rdquo; Poles. Amid all these volatile concerns, Churchill had to find the path of prudence, of British national interest, and, above all, of the earliest possible victory over Nazism. In doing so he was guided by the most secret sources of British Intelligence: the daily interception of the messages of the German High Command. These pages reveal, as never before, the links between this secret information and the resulting moves and successes achieved by the Allies. &ldquo;A milestone, a monument, a magisterial achievement . . . rightly regarded as the most comprehensive life ever written of any age.&rdquo; &mdash;Andrew Roberts, historian and author of The Storm of War &ldquo;The most scholarly study of Churchill in war and peace ever written.&rdquo; &mdash;Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times</div>

Winston S. Churchill: Road to Victory, 1941–1945

<div>A chronological compilation of twentieth-century world events in one volume&mdash;from the acclaimed historian and biographer of Winston S. Churchill. The twentieth century has been one of the most unique in human history. It has seen the rise of some of humanity&rsquo;s most important advances to date, as well as many of its most violent and terrifying wars. This is a condensed version of renowned historian Martin Gilbert&rsquo;s masterful examination of the century&rsquo;s history, offering the highlights of a three-volume work that covers more than three thousand pages. From the invention of aviation to the rise of the Internet, and from events and cataclysmic changes in Europe to those in Asia, Africa, and North America, Martin examines art, literature, war, religion, life and death, and celebration and renewal across the globe, and throughout this turbulent and astonishing century. </div>

History of the Twentieth Century

<div>The final volume of the acclaimed official biography: &ldquo;A meticulously detailed and annotated account of Churchill&rsquo;s declining years . . . A contemporary classic&rdquo; (Foreign Affairs). The eighth and final volume of Winston S. Churchill&rsquo;s official biography begins with the defeat of Germany in 1945 and chronicles the period up to his death nearly twenty years later. It sees him first at the pinnacle of his power, leader of a victorious Britain. In July 1945 at Potsdam, Churchill, Stalin, and Truman aimed to shape postwar Europe. But upon returning home, was thrown out of office in the general election. Though out of office, Churchill worked to restore the fortunes of Britain&rsquo;s Conservative Party while warning the world of Communist ambitions, urging the reconciliation of France and Germany, pioneering the concept of a united Europe, and seeking to maintain the close link between Britain and the United States. In October 1951, Churchill became prime minister for the second time. The Great Powers were navigating a precarious peace at the dawn of the nuclear age. With the election of Eisenhower and the death of Stalin, he worked for a new summit conference to improve East-West relations; but in April of 1955, ill health and pressure from colleagues forced him to resign. In retirement Churchill completed his acclaimed four-volume History of the English-Speaking Peoples and watched as world conflicts continued, still convinced they could be resolved by statesmanship. &ldquo;Never despair&rdquo; remained his watchword, and his faith, until the end. &ldquo;A milestone, a monument, a magisterial achievement . . . rightly regarded as the most comprehensive life ever written of any age.&rdquo; &mdash;Andrew Roberts, historian and author of The Storm of War &ldquo;The most scholarly study of Churchill in war and peace ever written.&rdquo; &mdash;Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times</div>

Winston S. Churchill: Never Despair, 1945–1965

<div>&ldquo;Mr. Gilbert brings the strongest possible credentials to his history of World War II, and the result is a magisterial work&rdquo; (The New York Times). In the hands of master historian Martin Gilbert, the complex and compelling story of the Second World War comes to life. This narrative captures the perspectives of leading politicians and war commanders, journalists, civilians, and ordinary soldiers, offering gripping eyewitness accounts of heroism, defeat, suffering, and triumph. This is one of the first historical studies of World War II that describes the Holocaust as an integral part of the war. It also covers maneuvers, strategies, and leaders operating in European, Asian, and Pacific theatres. In addition, this book brings in survivor testimonies of occupation, survival behind enemy lines, and the experience of minority groups such as the Roma in Europe, to offer a comprehensive account of the war&rsquo;s impact on individuals on both sides. This is a sweeping narrative of one of the most deadly wars in history, which took almost forty million lives, and irrevocably changed countless more. &ldquo;Gilbert&rsquo;s flowing narrative is spiced with anecdotal details culled from diaries, memoirs, and official documents. He is especially skillful at interweaving summaries of military strategy with vignettes of civilian suffering.&rdquo; &mdash;Newsweek &ldquo;[A] masterful account of history&rsquo;s most destructive conflict.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly</div>

The Second World War

<div>The sixth volume in the official biography: &ldquo;A milestone, a monument, a magisterial achievement&rdquo; (Andrew Roberts, author of The Storm of War). Starting with the outbreak of war in September 1939 and ending with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, this volume in the epic biography of Winston S. Churchill draws on remarkably diverse material: from the War Cabinet and other government records to Churchill&rsquo;s own archive and diaries and letters of his private secretariat to the recollections of those who worked most closely with him. On the day Hitler invaded Poland, Churchill, aged sixty-four, had been out of office for ten years. Two days later, he became First Lord of the Admiralty, in charge of British naval policy and at the center of war direction. In May 1940 he became prime minister, leading his nation during a time of grave danger and setbacks. His first year and a half as prime minister included the Dunkirk evacuation, the fall of France, the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, the Battle of the Atlantic, the struggle in the Western Desert, and Hitler&rsquo;s invasion of Russia. By the end of 1940, Britain under Churchill&rsquo;s leadership had survived the onslaught and was making plans to continue the war against an enemy of unlimited ambition and ferocious will. One of Churchill&rsquo;s inner circle said: &ldquo;We who worked with Churchill every day of the war still saw at most a quarter of his daily tasks and worries.&rdquo; Martin Gilbert has pieced together the whole, setting in context much hitherto scattered and secret evidence, in order to give an intimate and fascinating account of the architect of Britain&rsquo;s &ldquo;finest hour.&rdquo; &ldquo;The most scholarly study of Churchill in war and peace ever written.&rdquo; &mdash;Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times</div>

Winston S. Churchill: Finest Hour, 1939–1941

<div>&ldquo;A richly textured and deeply moving portrait of greatness&rdquo; (Los Angeles Times). In this masterful book, prize-winning historian and authorized Churchill biographer Martin Gilbert weaves together the research from his eight-volume biography of the elder statesman into one single volume, and includes new information unavailable at the time of the original work&rsquo;s publication. Spanning Churchill&rsquo;s youth, education, and early military career, his journalistic work, and the arc of his political leadership, Churchill: A Life details the great man&rsquo;s indelible contribution to Britain&rsquo;s foreign policy and internal social reform. With eyewitness accounts and interviews with Churchill&rsquo;s contemporaries, including friends, family members, and career adversaries, it provides a revealing picture of the personal life, character, ambition, and drive of one of the world&rsquo;s most remarkable leaders. &ldquo;A full and rounded examination of Churchill&rsquo;s life, both in its personal and political aspects . . . Gilbert describes the painful decade of Churchill&rsquo;s political exile (1929&ndash;1939) and shows how it strengthened him and prepared him for his role in the &lsquo;hour of supreme crisis&rsquo; as Britain&rsquo;s wartime leader. A lucid, comprehensive and authoritative life of the man considered by many to have been the outstanding public figure of the 20th century.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly &ldquo;Mr. Gilbert&rsquo;s job was to bring alive before his readers a man of extraordinary genius and scarcely less extraordinary destiny. He has done so triumphantly.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times Book Review</div>

Churchill

<div>&ldquo;In this epic examination, [a] celebrated historian explores the evolution of Judaism and Islam through a lens of Middle Eastern stability.&rdquo; (Publishers Weekly) The relationship between Jews and Muslims has been a flashpoint that affects stability in the Middle East with global consequences. In this eloquent book, Martin Gilbert presents a fascinating account of the hope and fear that have characterized these two peoples through the 1,400 years of their intertwined history. Harking back to the Biblical story of Ishmael and Isaac, Gilbert takes the reader from the origins of the fraught relationship&mdash;the refusal of Medina&rsquo;s Jews to accept Mohammed as a prophet&mdash;through the ages of the Crusader reconquest of the Holy Land and the great Muslim sultanates to the present day. He explores the impact of Zionism in the early twentieth century, the clash of nationalisms during the Second World War, the mass expulsions and exodus of 800,000 Jews from Muslim lands following the birth of Israel, the Six-Day War, and the political sensitivities of the current Middle East. Ishmael&rsquo;s House sheds light on a time of prosperity and opportunity for Jews in Muslim lands stretching from Morocco to Afghanistan, with many instances of Muslim openness, support, and courage. Drawing on Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sources, Gilbert uses archived material, poems, letters, memoirs, and personal testimony to uncover the human voice of this centuries-old conflict. Ultimately Gilbert&rsquo;s moving account of mutual tolerance between Muslims and Jews provides a perspective on current events and a template for the future. &ldquo;A reliable source and a pleasure to read.&rdquo; &mdash;Herman Wouk, Pulitzer prize winning author of The Caine Mutiny &ldquo;Moving and important.&rdquo; &mdash;The Independent</div>

Martin Gilbert
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Books By Martin Gilbert (19 Books)