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Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel
National Jewish Book Award winner. Depicting the history of Israel from biblical Abraham to the present, this sophisticated, full-color graphic adaptation is academically grounded, guiding readers through highlights both in historical detail and from Israel's world view. History, religion, politics, and the current Middle East situation are all given comprehensive coverage in the text, which opens in a university setting with a professor teaching a series of sessions on Middle East/Near East modern history, beginning with Israel. With painted art that jumps right off the page, this crash course is an absorbing way for readers to absorb, understand, and retain key information about 4,000 years of complicated history. The second edition, updated through July 2008, includes the Winograd Commission Report on the war in Lebanon, the threat to Israel by Iran, and Israel's 60th anniversary as a State.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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About the author
Marv Wolfman
2,304 books306 followersMarvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 15, 2023
Beautiful pictorial history of Israel and the Jewish people, filled with exciting facts and exquisite illustrations and photos.
Set into two parts: that of a university lecture on Israel and a trip by the professor and students to Israel.
Begins with the beginnings of Israel as as a people in the biblical narrative, with the migration of Abraham to Canaan, and continues through the Biblical narrative of Joseph, Moses' leading of the Jews from slavery back to the Land of Israel. Continues with the Kingdom of David and Solomon, the Persian Exile and return, Alexander the Great and the brave resistance of the Maccabees to Israel's Greco-Syrian occupiers. Covers the roman occupation, the roman destruction of the Temple and forced exile of the Jews, from their ancient homeland, life in the diaspora including persecutions and the great rabbis and scholars who were inspired to write the Talmud, Midrash and Zohar.
Fantastic sections on Zionism and the return of the Jews to the Land of Israel, and the aggressive reaction of the Arabs who had migrated to Israel, and their attacks on the Jewish returnees to their own land.
Documents the Holocaust and the collaboration of Palestinian Arab leader Mufti Haj Armin al Husseini and other Arabs with the Nazis.
Outstanding introduction to the conflict and crammed with facts about Israel's rebirth, her wars of survival, against terrorism and her vast achievement in science and medicine, agriculture, literature, language and culture.
this the definitive book for one who knows little and desires to learn about Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Confronts the issues and history of Israel head on and in absorbing and always exciting way.
Fantastically illustrated throughout, colourful and attractive.
Set into two parts: that of a university lecture on Israel and a trip by the professor and students to Israel.
Begins with the beginnings of Israel as as a people in the biblical narrative, with the migration of Abraham to Canaan, and continues through the Biblical narrative of Joseph, Moses' leading of the Jews from slavery back to the Land of Israel. Continues with the Kingdom of David and Solomon, the Persian Exile and return, Alexander the Great and the brave resistance of the Maccabees to Israel's Greco-Syrian occupiers. Covers the roman occupation, the roman destruction of the Temple and forced exile of the Jews, from their ancient homeland, life in the diaspora including persecutions and the great rabbis and scholars who were inspired to write the Talmud, Midrash and Zohar.
Fantastic sections on Zionism and the return of the Jews to the Land of Israel, and the aggressive reaction of the Arabs who had migrated to Israel, and their attacks on the Jewish returnees to their own land.
Documents the Holocaust and the collaboration of Palestinian Arab leader Mufti Haj Armin al Husseini and other Arabs with the Nazis.
Outstanding introduction to the conflict and crammed with facts about Israel's rebirth, her wars of survival, against terrorism and her vast achievement in science and medicine, agriculture, literature, language and culture.
this the definitive book for one who knows little and desires to learn about Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Confronts the issues and history of Israel head on and in absorbing and always exciting way.
Fantastically illustrated throughout, colourful and attractive.
July 11, 2019
A concise and illustrated overview of the history of Israel.
I thought it was fairly even-handed in its history. It did not make any religious group out to be the villains, while at the same time showing the historical atrocities committed by different groups at various times.
Shows and describes Israel's historical and Biblical figures; life when they were a nation; life when they lived under the rule of different outside empires, and the history and leaders that led up to Israel becoming a nation again and the international and mid-eastern conflicts that have since arisen.
I read this to inform myself of the country I will be visiting in the fall.
I thought it was fairly even-handed in its history. It did not make any religious group out to be the villains, while at the same time showing the historical atrocities committed by different groups at various times.
Shows and describes Israel's historical and Biblical figures; life when they were a nation; life when they lived under the rule of different outside empires, and the history and leaders that led up to Israel becoming a nation again and the international and mid-eastern conflicts that have since arisen.
I read this to inform myself of the country I will be visiting in the fall.
March 23, 2018
As a brief overview of 4000 years of history and culture, it's really not a bad book, but you can't help but finish 120 pages and think about all the missed opportunities to really explore the history and political climate. The end sequence, which delves into the pursuit of peace in the region, is also a little too propagandist for my tastes.
The art is mostly solid, although it's a collage of painted images and digitally manipulated photos - not traditional comic illustration. The text is almost entirely in short paragraphs laid out over the images, which is a valid and different take on a graphic novel. The backgrounds occasionally obscure the text though.
It's a decent enough quickie overview, but to do this story real justice simply simply requires more space than they have here.
The art is mostly solid, although it's a collage of painted images and digitally manipulated photos - not traditional comic illustration. The text is almost entirely in short paragraphs laid out over the images, which is a valid and different take on a graphic novel. The backgrounds occasionally obscure the text though.
It's a decent enough quickie overview, but to do this story real justice simply simply requires more space than they have here.
June 20, 2021
My son’s take on this book: “I’d give it 4 1/2 stars. Really illuminates the history of Israel, throughout the eras.”
My mom always says, “If you want to learn about a complicated topic, read a kid’s book about it.”
In this case, both Mother and son are on the money.
If you’re looking for a clear overview of the entire panoply of Jewish history from start to now, this is a great book to use. It’s comprehensive without getting bogged down, and puts paid to the media lies that Israel is the aggressor.
It definitely has somewhat secular Zionist slant, but shares that there are various Zionist streams. Most importantly, it makes a persuasive case for Jews being the indigenous people of the land.
Highly recommend!
My mom always says, “If you want to learn about a complicated topic, read a kid’s book about it.”
In this case, both Mother and son are on the money.
If you’re looking for a clear overview of the entire panoply of Jewish history from start to now, this is a great book to use. It’s comprehensive without getting bogged down, and puts paid to the media lies that Israel is the aggressor.
It definitely has somewhat secular Zionist slant, but shares that there are various Zionist streams. Most importantly, it makes a persuasive case for Jews being the indigenous people of the land.
Highly recommend!
June 24, 2022
Written for children, so it's kind of a comics version, which felt disjointed. We were disappointed because we were deeply interested in this topic but it was difficult to understand because of the way in which it was written.
April 20, 2016
This book is a valuable, concise summary of Jewish Israeli history. Using the format of a professor and class, the book early on acknowledges it's bias and that it will speak from an Israeli perspective. There are a few cheezy parts in the interaction between the professor and the class that seem either a bit forced or too elaborately done.
The information was good, broad stroke, big picture. This isn't a reference book that you will turn to to understand, say, the 6 Day War. Rather, it is an overview of the thousand year history of the Jewish people, so you might pick it up to see where the 6 Day War fits in the flow. Though it is nuanced in minimizing Israel's faults and maximizing the aggression of it's enemies, one cannot help but acknowledge (both here and in other works on the topic) that enemy attempts at peace are questionable when the enemy continues to advocate for Israel's annihilation, and hasn't made any progress on agreed peace deals.
Early mentions of the Midrash and Talmud were helpful in positioning those works, though they might be confusing to younger readers unfamiliar with Jewish tradition (particularly it's ability to comfortably argue both sides). Also, for some reason there seems to be an attempt to really highlight women: the midwives in Egypt, Miriam and the only Judge mentioned, Deborah. It jumped out as strange, especially considering that Judaism and Christianity both show much more respect to woman than the surrounding cultures. But these things not withstanding, it was the text that drove me on to finish this book in one sitting. I think the authors managed to capture a complex storyline in a fairly concise manner.
The thing that is a little odd about this book is the art. It's kind of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it does draw you in and many spreads are well done. On the other hand, I often found it rather distracting. First of all, apparently a hot, glamorous professor in red is representative of those coming from an Israeli position. I found the graphics on the professor very weird. I found myself wondering if she was going to turn into an updated Wonder Woman (updated because she was so obviously sporting a Jennifer Aniston cut) by the end of the book. Secondly, early on, I thought the art a bit dramatic and even frightening. Sculls, swastikas, and people we haven't met yet appear in a fire where Abraham talks with God. Jacob appears to wrestle with a demon, and over Pharaoh's shoulder toddlers are tossed into the air against a background of pyramids and the Nile. The plagues feature a lot of fire and water, and a man holding what appears to be a dead child before a demonic altar (whether he is sacrificing the child or presenting the child after he has been killed in the passover is unclear). After that, things calm down a bit, but while the introduction states this book can be used with children, I found these vivid graphics troubling.
Thirdly, some of the historical figures are labeled and some are not. It seems the labels are more prevalent in recent history. Perhaps because we know for sure what these people looked like? As an aside, I've never seen Alexander the Great illustrated anything like this book, blonde, really? Fourth, we don't see a photo of Yassir Arafat until 11 pages after he is first mentioned, and when he does show up, he is on a page about Hezbollah? Finally, I thought there was a series of red pages about wars and terrorism that became rather tedious to the eye and mind. Even flipping through the book for this review there is a lot of red and black, fire and destruction. It's not that these images are completely disconnected from the storyline, it's just that they seem to become oppressive in such quantities.
Ultimately, I think the problem with the art is that it's too much going for cool, and violent, comic book. I think that doesn't serve the excellent text, and it cost a star in my evaluation. It's unfortunate, because the writing was good and it would have made an excellent homeschool resource if it didn't have to be censored for young students. 3 stars.
The information was good, broad stroke, big picture. This isn't a reference book that you will turn to to understand, say, the 6 Day War. Rather, it is an overview of the thousand year history of the Jewish people, so you might pick it up to see where the 6 Day War fits in the flow. Though it is nuanced in minimizing Israel's faults and maximizing the aggression of it's enemies, one cannot help but acknowledge (both here and in other works on the topic) that enemy attempts at peace are questionable when the enemy continues to advocate for Israel's annihilation, and hasn't made any progress on agreed peace deals.
Early mentions of the Midrash and Talmud were helpful in positioning those works, though they might be confusing to younger readers unfamiliar with Jewish tradition (particularly it's ability to comfortably argue both sides). Also, for some reason there seems to be an attempt to really highlight women: the midwives in Egypt, Miriam and the only Judge mentioned, Deborah. It jumped out as strange, especially considering that Judaism and Christianity both show much more respect to woman than the surrounding cultures. But these things not withstanding, it was the text that drove me on to finish this book in one sitting. I think the authors managed to capture a complex storyline in a fairly concise manner.
The thing that is a little odd about this book is the art. It's kind of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it does draw you in and many spreads are well done. On the other hand, I often found it rather distracting. First of all, apparently a hot, glamorous professor in red is representative of those coming from an Israeli position. I found the graphics on the professor very weird. I found myself wondering if she was going to turn into an updated Wonder Woman (updated because she was so obviously sporting a Jennifer Aniston cut) by the end of the book. Secondly, early on, I thought the art a bit dramatic and even frightening. Sculls, swastikas, and people we haven't met yet appear in a fire where Abraham talks with God. Jacob appears to wrestle with a demon, and over Pharaoh's shoulder toddlers are tossed into the air against a background of pyramids and the Nile. The plagues feature a lot of fire and water, and a man holding what appears to be a dead child before a demonic altar (whether he is sacrificing the child or presenting the child after he has been killed in the passover is unclear). After that, things calm down a bit, but while the introduction states this book can be used with children, I found these vivid graphics troubling.
Thirdly, some of the historical figures are labeled and some are not. It seems the labels are more prevalent in recent history. Perhaps because we know for sure what these people looked like? As an aside, I've never seen Alexander the Great illustrated anything like this book, blonde, really? Fourth, we don't see a photo of Yassir Arafat until 11 pages after he is first mentioned, and when he does show up, he is on a page about Hezbollah? Finally, I thought there was a series of red pages about wars and terrorism that became rather tedious to the eye and mind. Even flipping through the book for this review there is a lot of red and black, fire and destruction. It's not that these images are completely disconnected from the storyline, it's just that they seem to become oppressive in such quantities.
Ultimately, I think the problem with the art is that it's too much going for cool, and violent, comic book. I think that doesn't serve the excellent text, and it cost a star in my evaluation. It's unfortunate, because the writing was good and it would have made an excellent homeschool resource if it didn't have to be censored for young students. 3 stars.
July 1, 2015
Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel, despite its pedigree of being written by comics veteran Marv Wolfman, and despite having beautiful painted artwork on every page by Mario Ruiz, is more than a bit hard to categorize. Yes, it calls itself a comic book, but it's not, really; it's more of a rudimentary textbook with art (and some photographs) throughout. But once you get past that quibble, Homeland does represent a rather good introduction to the history of the State of Israel, as well as a reasonably gentle political statement in support of Israel and the Zionist dream, without completely discounting the point of view of the Arab population.
William J. Rubin, as creative director behind this project, explicitly stated his intention in recruiting Wolfman to write this, which is to use an ostensibly comics-based format to educate a largely uninformed public about the truth—whatever it may be—of the existence and status quo of the State of Israel as it existed at least in 2007. I've perused Westlaw enough, looking for "comic book" as a keyword, to know that comics have been used frequently as a teaching tool, and Homeland mostly works on those levels. By delving back to Biblical times—and with them the acknowledgment that Jews have maintained a constant presence in what is now Israel for millennia—and gradually moving forward from there, Homeland does a more than adequate job in making a rational claim to Israel's right to exist, and to exist as a Jewish state with many other different peoples living and taking part therein. Especially noteworthy, towards this point, is that Homeland doesn't single out particular recent movements (such as the various Intifadas) among resistances to the Israeli state, but rather presents them as part of a continuity of terrorism that has taken place against Israeli citizens of all backgrounds, including several acts of terrorism committed by Jews against the Arab minorities. After all, the professor/narrator of Homeland points out that in all the time that Jews were not in control of either all or part of the present State of Israel, few, if any, efforts were made by Israel's enemies to make peace with the Jewish State; that's perhaps the most salient part of Homeland's presentation.
Where Homeland falls down the most is towards the end, when the ostensible dialogue devolves into little better than a list of Israel's accomplishments on the technological, literary, environmental, and intellectual fronts; this section has a touch of didacticism that doesn't entirely mesh with the remainder of the book. But again, the larger point stands. Much is made of Israel's accomplishments in the face of adversity, and of Israel's ostensible striving for peace at all times, and that's where Homeland (mostly) succeeds. No, Homeland isn't going to convince everybody that Israel does more good than harm in the world, but it is a valiant effort at educating those with less knowledge than the pundits and professors.
William J. Rubin, as creative director behind this project, explicitly stated his intention in recruiting Wolfman to write this, which is to use an ostensibly comics-based format to educate a largely uninformed public about the truth—whatever it may be—of the existence and status quo of the State of Israel as it existed at least in 2007. I've perused Westlaw enough, looking for "comic book" as a keyword, to know that comics have been used frequently as a teaching tool, and Homeland mostly works on those levels. By delving back to Biblical times—and with them the acknowledgment that Jews have maintained a constant presence in what is now Israel for millennia—and gradually moving forward from there, Homeland does a more than adequate job in making a rational claim to Israel's right to exist, and to exist as a Jewish state with many other different peoples living and taking part therein. Especially noteworthy, towards this point, is that Homeland doesn't single out particular recent movements (such as the various Intifadas) among resistances to the Israeli state, but rather presents them as part of a continuity of terrorism that has taken place against Israeli citizens of all backgrounds, including several acts of terrorism committed by Jews against the Arab minorities. After all, the professor/narrator of Homeland points out that in all the time that Jews were not in control of either all or part of the present State of Israel, few, if any, efforts were made by Israel's enemies to make peace with the Jewish State; that's perhaps the most salient part of Homeland's presentation.
Where Homeland falls down the most is towards the end, when the ostensible dialogue devolves into little better than a list of Israel's accomplishments on the technological, literary, environmental, and intellectual fronts; this section has a touch of didacticism that doesn't entirely mesh with the remainder of the book. But again, the larger point stands. Much is made of Israel's accomplishments in the face of adversity, and of Israel's ostensible striving for peace at all times, and that's where Homeland (mostly) succeeds. No, Homeland isn't going to convince everybody that Israel does more good than harm in the world, but it is a valiant effort at educating those with less knowledge than the pundits and professors.
December 6, 2010
Strange. Very Zionist. The style of the art is a little silly for the subject matter.
June 13, 2013
This is a good introductory book to help one understand the complex history of the modern state of Israel. It introduces all the main characters and conflicts.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews