[A]n accessible and balanced survey of the Israel-Palestinian conflict . . . Readers will welcome this informative and fair-minded primer on one of the world's most fiercely debated issues

Publishers Weekly

If you fall into the camp of the “curious, confused, and conflicted,” then this book is for you. [Sokatch] provid[es] an engaging and evenhanded . . . history of the conflict

The New York Times Book Review

. . . Sokatch has the bravery to come along with an antidote that suggests that there is always so much more than one truth . . . He disrupts and therefore re-nuances the accepted narratives, and he does this with great generosity of style and spirit. This is an important book, exceedingly well written, full of insight and empathy and even humor in the face of all available evidence

Colum McCann, National Book Award-winning author

One of the best short contemporary guides to the complicated politics of the place

American Prospect

Everything that so often seems lacking in our thoughts, feelings, and arguments about Israel and Palestine-clarity, fair-mindedness, and universal compassion-can be found in this elegantly written and surprisingly entertaining book

Michael Chabon & Ayelet Waldman

Daniel Sokatch has done the impossible-he writes a breezy, sometimes even witty book about the always hot-button, depressing, and controversial topic of Israel and Palestine . . . [S]omehow he weaves a historical commentary that is both authoritative and entertaining. He must be some kind of wise man-or at least a mensch

Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of CROSSING MANDELBAUM GATE and THE OUTLIER