Israel Biography

The work of Marcus Aurelius is one of the finest examples of stoic philosophy in history. His words are clear and practical, suited to the application of philosophy to the governance of one's own life and that of an empire. One of the great virtues of his work is that it came from a man who was forced by his station to apply his philosophical ideals in a practical setting. While he was undoubtedly a man of learning, his ideas have been tested upon the field of life.

Ami Ayalon seeks input and perspective from Palestinians and Israelis whose experiences differ from his own. As head of the Shin Bet security agency, he gained empathy for "the enemy" and learned that when Israel carries out anti-terrorist operations in a political context of hopelessness, the Palestinian public will support violence, because they have nothing to lose. Researching and writing Friendly Fire, he came to understand that his patriotic life had blinded him to the self-defeating nature of policies that have undermined Israel's civil society.

In a remote corner of the world, forgotten for nearly 3,000 years, lived an enclave of Kurdish Jews so isolated that they still spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Mostly illiterate, they were self-made mystics and gifted storytellers and humble peddlers who dwelt in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors in the mountains of northern Iraq. To these descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, Yona Sabar was born.

The Long Night is Ernst Israel Bornstein's first-hand account of what he witnessed in seven concentration camps. Written with remarkable insight and raw emotion, The Long Night paints a portrait of human psychology in the darkest of times. Bornstein tells the stories of those who did all they could do to withstand physical and psychological torture, starvation, and sickness, and openly describes those who were forced to inflict suffering on others.

A master of deception, he was a rapist, arsonist, bank robber, and a new breed of serial killer, one who studied other killers to perfect his craft. In multiple states, he methodically buried kill-kits containing his tools of murder years before returning and putting them to use. Viewing the entire country as his hunting grounds, he often flew to distant locations where he rented cars and randomly selected his victims. Such were the methods and madness of serial killer Israel Keyes. Such were the demands of the “Devil in the Darkness.”

Part biography, part memoir, part manual for great leadership, My Rebbe explores the evolution of Chabad's global success, its central beliefs and practices, the Rebbe's personal history, and his vision to inspire change. This moving narrative, written by one of today's most influential Jewish thinkers, will motivate listeners to contemplate their own mission in the world and aspire toward meaningful living.

The Antichrist was aptly named. It is not so much aimed at the expression of any new perspective or in support of the expansion of knowledge but rather represents an effort to undo the religious interference Nietzsche believed worked against the advancement of culture and knowledge. In many ways he was the mouthpiece for the most unfavorable logical conclusions that rose to the fore in the meeting of the scientific and Christian perspective.

Am 7. Oktober 2023 wachte der israelische Soziologe Natan Sznaider in einer anderen Welt auf. Entsetzt und verzweifelt waren unzureichende Worte, um das Massaker der Hamas zu fassen. Aus der Ferne erkannte der Kölner Schriftsteller Navid Kermani den Schrecken wieder, der in den vergangenen zwei Jahrzehnten bereits über so viele Völker im Nahen Osten gekommen war. Die beiden Freunde erinnerten sich eines leidenschaftlichen Mailwechsels, den sie 2002 nach ihrer ersten Begegnung in Haifa geführt hatten.

Gustave Le Bon was an unorthodox thinker, a widely traveled man, and a true genius in the field of sociology. His understanding of group psychology is utilized by modern experts in the field and is illustrated superbly with this investigation of revolutions and the psychology that motivates them. Le Bon has been studied deeply by a number of influential world leaders, some famous and some infamous. These leaders include Theodore Roosevelt, Benito Mussolini, Vladimir Lenin, and Adolf Hitler, to name just a few of the most well-known.

Kristin Dickerson left her 15-year career as a TV journalist to answer a divine calling heard in the middle of a newscast: “You’re doing this wrong.” In that moment, she realized she had a platform to share the best of humanity, but on that day, she was sharing the worst. Seven months later, she and her husband, Peter, left their jobs and donated most of their belongings to go on a pilgrimage to some of the holiest places in the world. This book is the journal Kristin wrote during their travels. It is also her testimony, which shares stories about her journey back to God.

Without a doubt, Schopenhauer is one of the giants of Western philosophy. He represents a turning point from the quest to define the external world as something apart from our experience to a recognition of our experience as the medium of our world. Philosophy is a discourse, a conversation spread out over centuries that explores and develops different lines of thought.

Studies in Forensic Psychiatry is the product of extensive research into the psychological motivations for criminal behavior. Bernard Glueck draws his conclusions from a huge wealth of experience with the criminally insane and with the public health care systems. He recognized the need for criminology to be expanded to reflect a deeper understanding of motive and inclination on the part of the criminal, rather than being considered solely in terms of the criminal act itself.

Argentina, 1960. A car speeds through the streets of Buenos Aires. Inside are four Israeli secret agents and their prisoner: Adolf Eichmann, one of the most notorious war criminals of Nazi Germany. In this detailed memoir, Rafi Eitan tells the story of his remarkable life and career. He describes how as a teenager, he smuggled Jewish refugees into Palestine, and how, as a spy in the newly established Mossad, he swam through sewers to blow up a British radar station. He goes on to describe in detail his involvement in the extraordinary hunt for the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

Armed with unprecedented access to Edison's workshop diaries, notebooks, and letters, Israel brings fresh insights into how the inventor's creative mind worked. For the first time, much attention is devoted to his early family life in Ohio and Michigan, where the young Edison honed his entrepreneurial sense and eye for innovation as a newsstand owner and editor of a weekly newspaper. These experiences underscore the inventor's later successes with new resonance and pathos.

Modern Israel's founding fathers provided some of the boldest and most principled leadership of any nation. Now Israel needs their example more than ever. At a time when the political destiny of Israel is more uncertain than at any moment since its modern founding, Be Strong and of Good Courage celebrates the defining generation of leaders who took on the task of safeguarding the country's future.

Rousseau was one of the key figures of the Enlightenment, a period in history when all aspects of politics and human rights underwent dramatic reinterpretation. His discourse on inequality is one of his earliest works, an examination of the state of nature of mankind and the way in which current society fell short of both its ideals and its potential. Rousseau was the most influential French writer of his age. His works gave rise to the ideals espoused during the French Revolution, and in no small part contributed to the American Revolution as well.

Dr. Elisha Waldman's years at Jerusalem's Hadassah Medical Center were filled in equal measure with a deep sense of accomplishment, with frustration when regional politics sometimes got in the way of his patients' care, and with tension over the fine line he would have to walk when the religious traditions of some of his patients' families made it difficult for him to give these children the care he felt they deserved. Navigating the baffling Israeli bureaucracy, the ever-present threat of war, and cultural clashes, Waldman learned to be content with small victories.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's Aesthetics, or Philosophy of Fine Art, is part of a rich German aesthetic tradition that stretches from the middle of the 18th century into the modern era. Hegel wrote this work early in the German exploration of aesthetics, and it served as a foundation piece for the philosophies of all who followed him.

Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian Human Rights lawyer—and Christian pacifist—believes there is a way. In this moving, harrowing memoir, he takes us on a personal journey from anger and thoughts of violence to his deep commitment to unrelenting peaceful activism.

Shimon Peres was in his early 20s when he first met David Ben-Gurion. Although the state that Ben-Gurion would lead through war and peace had not yet declared its precarious independence, the "Old Man", as he was called even then, was already a mythic figure. Peres, who came of age in the cabinets of Ben-Gurion, is uniquely placed to evoke this figure of stirring contradictions - a prophetic visionary and a canny pragmatist who early grasped the necessity of compromise for national survival.