bgainor reviewed The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé
History worth learning about, but for laymen it might be worth learning about it elsewhere
3 stars
I'm not a historian, and not qualified to critique this book on that basis, and anything in this review shouldn't be taken as factual problems I have with the book. What I'll say is that I wasn't really the target audience for this book. It is fairly academic, and it is written from an Israeli perspective. As an American, I was unaware of a lot of the history that is taken for granted by this book. One other thing to note is that this book is primarily about the Nakba. While the Nakba is of course important to understanding the nature of the conflict in Palestine today, and the author does a good job of pointing out how the memory of it is still being denied, I wouldn't recommend this for someone looking for a broad overview of the conflict.
That's not to say I didn't appreciate the book. I …
I'm not a historian, and not qualified to critique this book on that basis, and anything in this review shouldn't be taken as factual problems I have with the book. What I'll say is that I wasn't really the target audience for this book. It is fairly academic, and it is written from an Israeli perspective. As an American, I was unaware of a lot of the history that is taken for granted by this book. One other thing to note is that this book is primarily about the Nakba. While the Nakba is of course important to understanding the nature of the conflict in Palestine today, and the author does a good job of pointing out how the memory of it is still being denied, I wouldn't recommend this for someone looking for a broad overview of the conflict.
That's not to say I didn't appreciate the book. I learned a lot, and the descriptions of what took place were at times emotionally devastating.
