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Jabotinsky: A Life
An insightful biography of Vladimir Jabotinsky, the most controversial and perhaps most fervent of all Zionist political figures
“A well-written, passionate survey of Jabotinsky’s life and contributions to political Zionism.”—Jeffrey Veidlinger, Marginalia Blog, Los Angeles Review of Books
“For many, [this book] will open up a man and his ideas whose influence is still felt today and who had an important role in the ideological struggles that shaped the Zionist movement and the modern Jewish state.”— Chicago Jewish Star
Vladimir Jabotinsky (1880–1940) was a man of huge paradoxes and contradictions and has been the most misunderstood of all Zionist politicians--a first-rate novelist, a celebrated Russian journalist, and the founder of the branch of Zionism now headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. This biography, the first in English in nearly two decades, undertakes to answer central questions about Jabotinsky as a writer, a political thinker, and a leader. Hillel Halkin sets aside the stereotypes to which Jabotinsky has been reduced by his would-be followers and detractors alike.
Halkin explains the importance of Odessa, Jabotinsky’s native city, in molding his character and outlook; discusses his novels and short stories, showing the sometimes hidden connections between them and Jabotinsky’s political thought, and studies a political career that ended in tragic failure. Halkin also addresses Jabotinsky’s position, unique among the great figures of Zionist history, as both a territorial maximalist and a principled believer in democracy. The author inquires why Jabotinsky was often accused of fascist tendencies though he abhorred authoritarian and totalitarian politics, and investigates the many opposed aspects of his personality and conduct while asking whether or not they had an ultimate coherence. Few figures in twentieth-century Jewish life were quite so admired and loathed, and Halkin’s splendid, subtle book explores him with empathy and lucidity.
“A well-written, passionate survey of Jabotinsky’s life and contributions to political Zionism.”—Jeffrey Veidlinger, Marginalia Blog, Los Angeles Review of Books
“For many, [this book] will open up a man and his ideas whose influence is still felt today and who had an important role in the ideological struggles that shaped the Zionist movement and the modern Jewish state.”— Chicago Jewish Star
Vladimir Jabotinsky (1880–1940) was a man of huge paradoxes and contradictions and has been the most misunderstood of all Zionist politicians--a first-rate novelist, a celebrated Russian journalist, and the founder of the branch of Zionism now headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. This biography, the first in English in nearly two decades, undertakes to answer central questions about Jabotinsky as a writer, a political thinker, and a leader. Hillel Halkin sets aside the stereotypes to which Jabotinsky has been reduced by his would-be followers and detractors alike.
Halkin explains the importance of Odessa, Jabotinsky’s native city, in molding his character and outlook; discusses his novels and short stories, showing the sometimes hidden connections between them and Jabotinsky’s political thought, and studies a political career that ended in tragic failure. Halkin also addresses Jabotinsky’s position, unique among the great figures of Zionist history, as both a territorial maximalist and a principled believer in democracy. The author inquires why Jabotinsky was often accused of fascist tendencies though he abhorred authoritarian and totalitarian politics, and investigates the many opposed aspects of his personality and conduct while asking whether or not they had an ultimate coherence. Few figures in twentieth-century Jewish life were quite so admired and loathed, and Halkin’s splendid, subtle book explores him with empathy and lucidity.
246 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
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283 people want to read
About the author
Hillel Halkin
60 books26 followersHillel Halkin (born 1939) is an American-born Israeli translator, biographer, literary critic, and novelist, who has lived in Israel since 1970.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
July 15, 2014
Not a bad overview of perhps the most prescient of the pre-State ideologues. Halkin's narrative excels at painting the early influences on Jabotinsky as well as conveying the chaos of his last years against the tragic developmnts for Europen Jewry in the beginnings of WWII. Unortuntely, the narrative meanders through the bulk of Jabotinsky's life and work with scant regard for chronological order.
The epilogue is self-indulgnt and Halkin would have been better served by linking Jabotinky to the mechanics leading up to 1948 rather than extrapolating seventy years into the future.
Still, a better read than Schechtman's ponderous and overtly hagiographic tome and essential reading for all interested in the ideological building-blocks of the modern State of Israel.
The epilogue is self-indulgnt and Halkin would have been better served by linking Jabotinky to the mechanics leading up to 1948 rather than extrapolating seventy years into the future.
Still, a better read than Schechtman's ponderous and overtly hagiographic tome and essential reading for all interested in the ideological building-blocks of the modern State of Israel.
April 6, 2015
Very interesting biography of a man who helped shaped the ZIonist movement and the founding of Israel. To this day, his ideology still shape Israeli politics. For those who have only a superficial knowledge of 'right wing' Zionism or Israeli politics, this book is instructive as to the core elements. More often than not, Jabotinsky was maligned and misunderstood, unintentionally or deliberately. I highly recommend this book to those who are interested in history and Israeli politics or Zionism.
August 22, 2015
Very well-written and interesting about the "founding father" of the revisionist zionism and what would eventually become the Likud party in Israel. A most interesting life, interesting time, interesting everything, in fact. This is my first look at Jabotinsky and Betar (forerunner of Irgun) and everything it came to influence, so It's very difficult for me to judge any accuracy or things which are a matter of opinion. I can only say what I said first: very well-written, maybe even a must for people who are really interested in Israeli matters.
February 21, 2023
I mean, let me know if you want the eight-page, double-spaced, paginated, Chicago style synopsis outlining the salient themes and ideas, but to quote my opening line and my conclusion: :"Hillel Halkin's Jabotinsky: A Life is a fascinating biography of a complex individual. It carefully portrays the life and times of Vladimir Jabotinsky, outlining the background, influences, and achievements of a man who would go on to become critical to Zionist and Israeli history. It is a thought-provoking, thorough biography that tells the story of a complex individual who did all he could to help secure the future of a Jewish state in Israel."
Anyway, definitely a great book that captures the nuance of Jabotinsky's life and times. He was by no means a straightforward man, but this book does a terrific job of providing background and context to his life as well as sharing what he did manage to accomplish and how it impacted Zionism and Israeli history to this day. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about Zionist or modern Jewish history. And let's face it, who wouldn't be?
Anyway, definitely a great book that captures the nuance of Jabotinsky's life and times. He was by no means a straightforward man, but this book does a terrific job of providing background and context to his life as well as sharing what he did manage to accomplish and how it impacted Zionism and Israeli history to this day. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about Zionist or modern Jewish history. And let's face it, who wouldn't be?
September 4, 2018
Even if you know something about Zionist history, and are therefore familiar with the name Vladimir Jabotinsky, you would likely identify him as a territorial maximalist who sought a Jewish state on both sides of the Jordan River AND in what is now the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. You would also probably associate him with the Irgun, a militia guilty of its share of terrorist atrocities, including revenge murders of innocent Arabs. You might even brand him with that overused epithet, “fascist”.
Although none of this, except the last, is inaccurate (and even that calumnious label is not entirely without at least some impressionistic basis), it is incomplete to the point of caricature. A multifaceted genius, Jabotinsky might have been a major literary figure had he not felt compelled to devote himself to Zionism, which he regarded as the only possible salvation for a European Jewry whose catastrophe he prophetically foresaw. He was fluent in eight or nine languages, a facility he employed as a spellbinding orator, prolific polemicist and widely-read journalist. He was the founder and commander of a Jewish Legion in the British armed forces during World War I, a novelist of the highest rank (one of whose works was made into a movie by Cecil B. DeMille that grossed $11 million in 1949), a playwright, a publisher, an insurance executive and a lawyer. And, hardly congruent with his image as a radical firebrand, Jabotinsky was impeccably courteous, self-deprecating in his humor and a convinced democrat who, though he saw war with the Arabs as inevitable, was determined that they have completely equal rights in the Jewish majority state that he was ready to fight them to establish.
All of these aspects of a fascinating and remarkable figure are vividly portrayed in Hillel Halkin’s short and engaging biography, “Jabotinsky: A Life.” As Halkin shows, Jabotinsky was a man not only of manifold talents, but sharp contradictions.
Living as a free-spirited youth in the relaxed atmospheres of Odessa and Italy, mixing easily with both Jews and Gentiles, Jabotinsky strongly believed in the primacy of the individual. But in the historical circumstances in which he lived, he found it a moral imperative that he and others devote themselves single-mindedly to the collective of the Jewish people. Halkin quotes him writing to a friend:
“I had two gates in me, one to my people and one to culture, literature, my writing. To keep it from hindering my work for the Jewish people, I locked the second gate with my own hands, took the key and threw it as far into the depths as I could.”
Incongruities also marked what Jabotinsky made the center of his life – his political work to realize Herzl’s vision of a Jewish state. While others believed that the native Arab population of Palestine could be persuaded to accept an influx of Jews by showing them they would benefit economically, Jabotinsky regarded this as a pipe dream. No people, he wrote, would willingly accept being made a minority in their own land by the large-scale immigration of “colonizers.” To think otherwise of the Arabs was indicative of condescension and disrespect.
But the conclusion Jabotinsky drew from this was not to drop the quest for a Jewish state, but rather to recognize that it would have to be brought about by military force. He urged his fellow Zionists to recognize that reality and prepare for it. He was not plagued by moral doubts about effecting the Zionist enterprise militarily. The Jews were in desperate straits and had no other place to go; they were his people and he was prepared to do the necessary to save them.
Still, Jabotinsky was a strong proponent of democracy, and once the Arabs were forced to accept a Jewish majority state they were to have strictly equal rights within in it. Further, he found the idea of population transfer to be both impractical and morally unacceptable.
In an epilogue imagining how Jabotinsky might respond today to an objection that a dual-nationality state with a narrow Jewish majority could not possibly remain both Jewish and democratic, Halkin has Jabotinsky responding that even the narrowest Jewish majority – 51 percent – would trigger such massive Jewish immigration as to make this possible. Today’s democratic Israel, notes Halkin’s imagined Jabotinsky, has evolved to having an eighty percent Jewish majority. Met with the argument that, given the losses of millions of Jews in the Holocaust, that could not now happen with respect to a state “on both sides of the Jordan,” Halkin envisions Jabotinsky scaling back his outsized territorial ambitions to “the best deal Israel can get.” What might that be? Jabotinsky demurs, saying his only advice is “never take advice from a dead man.”
More seriously: Did Jabotinsky condone terrorism? Although Jabotinsky was in London during the “Arab Revolt” of 1936-39, having been exiled from Palestine by the British, he had been made the nominal head of the Irgun as a result of an agreement between a number of affiliated organizations. (The on-the-ground commander was Menachem Begin, a later prime minister of Israel.) Halkin says Jabotinsky knew little or nothing in advance of the specifics of attacks carried out in reprisal for Arab terrorism, although he generally approved their scope and timing. Though he first reacted to indiscriminate attacks with denial and discomfort, reportedly saying at one point there was “nothing heroic about shooting an Arab peasant in the back for bringing vegetables on his donkey to Tel Aviv,” as the cycle of violence wore on and escalated, he defended such attacks as a necessary part of war, much as civilians would be killed in air attacks on German cities. Although Jabotinsky was not directly involved in planning or carrying out these attacks, his polemical defense of them remains a stain on his record.
Hillel Halkin writes that if there was a common denominator in Jabotinsky’s contradictions, “it was of someone who became what he did by acting against his deeper instincts – or rather, whose deepest instinct was to overrule all his other instincts in the name of a single willed goal.” For all his brilliance and self-denial, he did not live to see that goal realized.
Although none of this, except the last, is inaccurate (and even that calumnious label is not entirely without at least some impressionistic basis), it is incomplete to the point of caricature. A multifaceted genius, Jabotinsky might have been a major literary figure had he not felt compelled to devote himself to Zionism, which he regarded as the only possible salvation for a European Jewry whose catastrophe he prophetically foresaw. He was fluent in eight or nine languages, a facility he employed as a spellbinding orator, prolific polemicist and widely-read journalist. He was the founder and commander of a Jewish Legion in the British armed forces during World War I, a novelist of the highest rank (one of whose works was made into a movie by Cecil B. DeMille that grossed $11 million in 1949), a playwright, a publisher, an insurance executive and a lawyer. And, hardly congruent with his image as a radical firebrand, Jabotinsky was impeccably courteous, self-deprecating in his humor and a convinced democrat who, though he saw war with the Arabs as inevitable, was determined that they have completely equal rights in the Jewish majority state that he was ready to fight them to establish.
All of these aspects of a fascinating and remarkable figure are vividly portrayed in Hillel Halkin’s short and engaging biography, “Jabotinsky: A Life.” As Halkin shows, Jabotinsky was a man not only of manifold talents, but sharp contradictions.
Living as a free-spirited youth in the relaxed atmospheres of Odessa and Italy, mixing easily with both Jews and Gentiles, Jabotinsky strongly believed in the primacy of the individual. But in the historical circumstances in which he lived, he found it a moral imperative that he and others devote themselves single-mindedly to the collective of the Jewish people. Halkin quotes him writing to a friend:
“I had two gates in me, one to my people and one to culture, literature, my writing. To keep it from hindering my work for the Jewish people, I locked the second gate with my own hands, took the key and threw it as far into the depths as I could.”
Incongruities also marked what Jabotinsky made the center of his life – his political work to realize Herzl’s vision of a Jewish state. While others believed that the native Arab population of Palestine could be persuaded to accept an influx of Jews by showing them they would benefit economically, Jabotinsky regarded this as a pipe dream. No people, he wrote, would willingly accept being made a minority in their own land by the large-scale immigration of “colonizers.” To think otherwise of the Arabs was indicative of condescension and disrespect.
But the conclusion Jabotinsky drew from this was not to drop the quest for a Jewish state, but rather to recognize that it would have to be brought about by military force. He urged his fellow Zionists to recognize that reality and prepare for it. He was not plagued by moral doubts about effecting the Zionist enterprise militarily. The Jews were in desperate straits and had no other place to go; they were his people and he was prepared to do the necessary to save them.
Still, Jabotinsky was a strong proponent of democracy, and once the Arabs were forced to accept a Jewish majority state they were to have strictly equal rights within in it. Further, he found the idea of population transfer to be both impractical and morally unacceptable.
In an epilogue imagining how Jabotinsky might respond today to an objection that a dual-nationality state with a narrow Jewish majority could not possibly remain both Jewish and democratic, Halkin has Jabotinsky responding that even the narrowest Jewish majority – 51 percent – would trigger such massive Jewish immigration as to make this possible. Today’s democratic Israel, notes Halkin’s imagined Jabotinsky, has evolved to having an eighty percent Jewish majority. Met with the argument that, given the losses of millions of Jews in the Holocaust, that could not now happen with respect to a state “on both sides of the Jordan,” Halkin envisions Jabotinsky scaling back his outsized territorial ambitions to “the best deal Israel can get.” What might that be? Jabotinsky demurs, saying his only advice is “never take advice from a dead man.”
More seriously: Did Jabotinsky condone terrorism? Although Jabotinsky was in London during the “Arab Revolt” of 1936-39, having been exiled from Palestine by the British, he had been made the nominal head of the Irgun as a result of an agreement between a number of affiliated organizations. (The on-the-ground commander was Menachem Begin, a later prime minister of Israel.) Halkin says Jabotinsky knew little or nothing in advance of the specifics of attacks carried out in reprisal for Arab terrorism, although he generally approved their scope and timing. Though he first reacted to indiscriminate attacks with denial and discomfort, reportedly saying at one point there was “nothing heroic about shooting an Arab peasant in the back for bringing vegetables on his donkey to Tel Aviv,” as the cycle of violence wore on and escalated, he defended such attacks as a necessary part of war, much as civilians would be killed in air attacks on German cities. Although Jabotinsky was not directly involved in planning or carrying out these attacks, his polemical defense of them remains a stain on his record.
Hillel Halkin writes that if there was a common denominator in Jabotinsky’s contradictions, “it was of someone who became what he did by acting against his deeper instincts – or rather, whose deepest instinct was to overrule all his other instincts in the name of a single willed goal.” For all his brilliance and self-denial, he did not live to see that goal realized.
July 21, 2024
I don’t usually read biographies, but this was extremely interesting. Jabotinsky was an intellectual and politician during the early days of Zionism, and from what I understand his writings are still influential today. The author of this book did an excellent job with the narrative. Jabotinsky’s life is a bit tragic, as his calling was writing, but he felt he had to go into politics. His political party, however, was always in the minority/opposition.
Jabotinsky had a dark but arguably realistic view of human nature that influenced his politics. His viewpoint on the Palestine question was that it was a practical matter of finding land that the Jewish people could rally around — and that creating a national home for Jews was necessary because of antisemitism. He believed that once immigration to Palestine reached a certain point, there would be an Arab vs. Jewish war, but that would be in the future.
Given how events have played out, it was interesting to see the odds as initially stacked against the Zionists in the years before the founding of Israel. At one point, Herzl even seriously considered a proposition to create a Jewish nation in Eastern Africa.
Jabotinsky had a dark but arguably realistic view of human nature that influenced his politics. His viewpoint on the Palestine question was that it was a practical matter of finding land that the Jewish people could rally around — and that creating a national home for Jews was necessary because of antisemitism. He believed that once immigration to Palestine reached a certain point, there would be an Arab vs. Jewish war, but that would be in the future.
Given how events have played out, it was interesting to see the odds as initially stacked against the Zionists in the years before the founding of Israel. At one point, Herzl even seriously considered a proposition to create a Jewish nation in Eastern Africa.
August 17, 2019
I believe in reading biographies before I start reading auto-biographies to get a sense of what has happened around a person's life before I get their perspective. "Jabotinsky" by Hillel Halkin definitely gave me a very good introduction to the Vladomir "Ze'ev" Jabotinsky's life. Since this is my first book on Jabotinsky, I am unclear on how thorough his life was covered. From what I know about Zionist history I believe some of the pertinent facts were skipped over. For example, from the founding of Betar to the growth and infrastructure of the organization, there was little discussion. Also Menachem Begin's relationship with Jabotinsky is hardly mentioned. I did however, appreciate Halkin's use of snippets of Jabotinsky's writings. I definitely gave me a better understanding of Jabotinsky.
Unlike some other is this series, Halkin is not an academic. He is a biographer and translator, so his book is not annotated. I find this to be a little frustrating because it usually gives me a path to continue my exploration; however, he does explain that most of the works were in foreign languages and he did point to where existing English translations can be found. However, because of his literary skill, the book reads well and the flows nicely.
The only real issue I had with the book was the ending. For many, Jabotinsky may be considered a failed Zionist leader to some; however, if we look at Israeli politics today, Likud clearly rose from Herut. Thus, I was disappointed at the ending where Halkin has an imaginary modern day interview with Jabotinsky in Paris. I would have appreciated more how his legacy has impacted modern day Israel.
Unlike some other is this series, Halkin is not an academic. He is a biographer and translator, so his book is not annotated. I find this to be a little frustrating because it usually gives me a path to continue my exploration; however, he does explain that most of the works were in foreign languages and he did point to where existing English translations can be found. However, because of his literary skill, the book reads well and the flows nicely.
The only real issue I had with the book was the ending. For many, Jabotinsky may be considered a failed Zionist leader to some; however, if we look at Israeli politics today, Likud clearly rose from Herut. Thus, I was disappointed at the ending where Halkin has an imaginary modern day interview with Jabotinsky in Paris. I would have appreciated more how his legacy has impacted modern day Israel.
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February 26, 2015I'm in the middle of reading a book recommended by Lexington's Helen Epstein in The Arts Fuse (http://goo.gl/tNzC0O). Vladimir Jabotinsky, one of the founders of the Zionist movement along with Theodor Herzl, Chaim Weizmann and David Ben-Gurion, was born and grew up in Odessa, Russia. He was a writer, reporter, but most importantly, a leader who organized and agitated for a separate land for Jews to form their own nation -- a step he feel needed to happen due to long standing Jewish persecution throughout the world. Although I knew a little bit about Zionism, I am learning about the long campaign and the many players involved in the formation of a Jewish state.
April 26, 2015
Fascinating read on the creator of Revisionist Zionism. An extremely erudite, driven, and yet human individual who must be given due credit for presciently seeing the widespread destruction of European Jewry. Hillel Halkin is also a fabulous writer.
July 20, 2014
Excellent introduction for its length, but it does make one want more than this short volume could provide. Hillel Halkin always writes well and thoughtfully, and presents Jabotinsky fairly, without a political axe to grind.
August 9, 2014
good book about an important individual but I wish it were longer and more in depth.
February 21, 2021
Vladimir Jabotinsky is a complicated figure in early Zionism, greatly appreciated for his dexterity with language and frequently lambasted for his aggressive views and suggested policies. A Russian novelist and journalist with an impressive capacity for incorporating his own life and views into his characters, Jabotinsky was a secular Jew, disconnected from ritual, but intensely passionate about peoplehood, growing into a belief that much of European antisemitism was based on a kernel of truth in Jewish distinctness that necessitated Zionism and the establishment of a safe Jewish homeland in Palestine.
As described by Halkin in this book, Jabotinsky's pursuit of this goal was an intense one, regularly leading to conflict with other early Zionist figures over Jabotinsky's unwillingness to compromise. The Jewish homeland, Jabotinsky believed, must be in Palestine, which would have to be wrested by force from its Arab inhabitants, and it needed a Jewish majority for rulership. Furthermore, that Jewish majority should, in Jabotinsky's contrarian view, be composed of far fewer agrarian socialists and far more business-savvy traders and intellectuals who were so prominent among European Jewry.
I am, admittedly, not super well-read on early Zionist and Israeli history. I know Jabotinsky mostly as the name of a street nearby and little about his life. I've loved biographies since I was a little girl ploughing through my elementary school library, but I'm not convinced this is appropriately classified as one. This snapshot of Jabotinsky's life is a concise exploration of how his Zionism developed and how he navigated seeming contradictions in his views and his life. Certainly interesting and engaging, I found myself wishing for more as I was reading, and not in a great way. Jabotinsky enters the book as a nearly fully-formed adult, post-university with strong beliefs that I didn't quite understand. As those beliefs began to change and Jabotinsky began to interact with other figures whose names I recognized but couldn't tell the stories of, I felt increasingly disoriented and disappointed.
I am newly fascinated by Jabotinsky, and I would love to read his writings, which I though Halkin did a fabulous job of teasing and summarized, but I can't say I finished the book with a lot of confidence in understanding Jabotinsky's policies and how they changed. I would be interested in another biography on this leading Zionist character, and I'm disappointed that this was the first in twenty years to have been published in English. For now, I'll make do with the bits I grasped from the book and the Wikipedia summaries.
As described by Halkin in this book, Jabotinsky's pursuit of this goal was an intense one, regularly leading to conflict with other early Zionist figures over Jabotinsky's unwillingness to compromise. The Jewish homeland, Jabotinsky believed, must be in Palestine, which would have to be wrested by force from its Arab inhabitants, and it needed a Jewish majority for rulership. Furthermore, that Jewish majority should, in Jabotinsky's contrarian view, be composed of far fewer agrarian socialists and far more business-savvy traders and intellectuals who were so prominent among European Jewry.
I am, admittedly, not super well-read on early Zionist and Israeli history. I know Jabotinsky mostly as the name of a street nearby and little about his life. I've loved biographies since I was a little girl ploughing through my elementary school library, but I'm not convinced this is appropriately classified as one. This snapshot of Jabotinsky's life is a concise exploration of how his Zionism developed and how he navigated seeming contradictions in his views and his life. Certainly interesting and engaging, I found myself wishing for more as I was reading, and not in a great way. Jabotinsky enters the book as a nearly fully-formed adult, post-university with strong beliefs that I didn't quite understand. As those beliefs began to change and Jabotinsky began to interact with other figures whose names I recognized but couldn't tell the stories of, I felt increasingly disoriented and disappointed.
I am newly fascinated by Jabotinsky, and I would love to read his writings, which I though Halkin did a fabulous job of teasing and summarized, but I can't say I finished the book with a lot of confidence in understanding Jabotinsky's policies and how they changed. I would be interested in another biography on this leading Zionist character, and I'm disappointed that this was the first in twenty years to have been published in English. For now, I'll make do with the bits I grasped from the book and the Wikipedia summaries.
December 20, 2020
Neither hagiography nor demonization, Hillel Halkin presents Jabotinsky in a sympathetic but not adulating biography. As Halkin notes, Jabotinsky saw, before other Zionist leaders did, that Britain would conquer the Ottomans in World War I, thereby gaining control over Palestine. He foresaw that the British would betray the Balfour declaration. He knew that socialism could not build a vibrant state that would attract European Jews. He foresaw the catastrophe that Nazism would bring to European Jewry, and also that a Jewish-Arab war was inevitable. Like fabled Cassandra, he saw and foretold all this, but was seldom able to get other Zionists to work with him in the historically necessary response.
November 21, 2018
Well-written book, but I knew I would be challenged by the topic.
Jabotinsky was the leader of a movement that today, some 75 years after his death, is ascendant. I wanted to understand what he did and what he means to today's leaders. Now I know what he did, but I would have liked a little more modern analysis on his significance today. The epilogue, with an imaginary discussion between Jabotinsky and the author, was helpful, but interviews with modern-day figures might have helped explain his importance.
Jabotinsky was the leader of a movement that today, some 75 years after his death, is ascendant. I wanted to understand what he did and what he means to today's leaders. Now I know what he did, but I would have liked a little more modern analysis on his significance today. The epilogue, with an imaginary discussion between Jabotinsky and the author, was helpful, but interviews with modern-day figures might have helped explain his importance.
January 5, 2025
How can one make the life story of Jabotinsky boring?
1. Have a translator/literary figure write the biography instead of an historian. Halkin has a distinguished career. But a vast amount of the book is about Jabotinsky's so-called literary works, which were trivial. I ended up skipping vast portions of detail about unimportant plays and novels.
2. I listened to this book on Audible. Uses the worst narrator I've ever heard on an audio book. It would have been better to use a computer-generated voice circa 1980.
1. Have a translator/literary figure write the biography instead of an historian. Halkin has a distinguished career. But a vast amount of the book is about Jabotinsky's so-called literary works, which were trivial. I ended up skipping vast portions of detail about unimportant plays and novels.
2. I listened to this book on Audible. Uses the worst narrator I've ever heard on an audio book. It would have been better to use a computer-generated voice circa 1980.
October 14, 2025
By reading this book, I found that Ze’ev Jabotinsky has a really sharp mind. He had accurately predicted all the events from 1910 to 1940 based on his correspondence and speeches. It was very interesting to me that someone could understand reality so clearly.
It was a good book for understanding the environment in which the mindset of the Israeli right was formed. The interesting point is that in his youth, he was interested in socialism...
It was a good book for understanding the environment in which the mindset of the Israeli right was formed. The interesting point is that in his youth, he was interested in socialism...
June 20, 2020
Easy reading.
Interesting stuff.
I’ve known a lot more about the movement Jabotinsky founded and his thought than about him. Putting those additional pieces into place makes the whole make more sense.
So good stuff.
Interesting stuff.
I’ve known a lot more about the movement Jabotinsky founded and his thought than about him. Putting those additional pieces into place makes the whole make more sense.
So good stuff.
May 19, 2023
Captures the essence of Jabotinsky as a tragic, misunderstood individual who sidelines his true calling as a gifted writer to enter the fray in Zionist politics. Adored and reviled, he never fit in anywhere and didn't live to see the fruits of his passionate struggle.
August 9, 2018
Excellent bio of Jabotinsky including, the history of his life, the development of his Zionist philosophy and his encounters with his contemporaries. Very useful for my planning.
January 14, 2020
This is an excellent short biography of an often overlooked advocate on behalf of Zionism.
February 4, 2020
A great insight in to Jabotinsky, which ignores stereotypes and shows his classical liberal beating heart.
November 22, 2020
Excellent, consistently engaging overview of Jabotinsky. I wish the book were longer, but that would defeat part of the purpose of writing a short biography.
January 8, 2021
Beautifully written.
October 22, 2024
Good read. Thought provoking epilogue. Not sure I agreed with it, but makes you think. Really enjoyed how it traced the development of his thought, does an excellent job showing change and continuity over time. Would have liked a little more details about his life, but overall an excellent read. Very well written.
September 18, 2025
Loved it, great writing style on this historical Zionist figure.
March 28, 2023
an overview for those that know
European and Slavic Jewish history covered during Jabotinsky’s life is particularly complex. This biography is good on him but not so good for a this newbie in sorting out the dates, organizations, and luminaries he dealt with
European and Slavic Jewish history covered during Jabotinsky’s life is particularly complex. This biography is good on him but not so good for a this newbie in sorting out the dates, organizations, and luminaries he dealt with
September 19, 2025
What an absolutely beautiful epilogue. It made me tear up.
October 24, 2021
Very helpful biography of one of the key Zionosts in the development of Modern Israel. So far, I haven't found a "Jewish Lives" book that I didn't like. This one was a very helpful look at the historical backdrop that set the stage for the current State of Israel to exist. It went beyond the veneer of Religious School facts, and yet reinforced the belief that the Jews have a right to have a home. Am Yisrael Chai!
September 11, 2016
Jabotinsky, who was born in Odessa in 1880 and died in 1940 was a novelist, journalist, and an early proponent of Zionism. A contemporary of Herzl, he was active in all the key Zionist organizations. While not at all religious he was an advocate of pushing England very hard to provide a home for Jews in Palestine. Ben Gurion and Chaim Weitzman were much more diplomatic/passive compared to him. While the first part of the book describing Jabotinsky's life was somewhat dry, it picks up and provides a fascinating account of his relentless drive. Halkin, an excellent translator and novelist does a masterful job in not only putting into context his activities against other leaders and their views but also provides great introspection into his personality.
March 14, 2016
It is ok, but short and with little of Jabotinsky's political and intellectual history. The book doesn't adequately explain how Jabotinsky changed from a multicultural and tolerant Odessa Jew to be a champion of Jewish nationalism and the book doesn't expand on his Revisionism.
I am definitely going to read the standard work by Shechtmann, which is hopefully much more detailed and complete.
I am definitely going to read the standard work by Shechtmann, which is hopefully much more detailed and complete.
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