Eschewing the familiar, triumphalist narrative of ancient glory and modern rebirth in Zion, 'The Story of Hebrew' follows the twists and turns of the Hebrew language from its beginnings to contemporary Israeli usage.
In his rather radical survey of Jewish literature from antiquity to the last century, Adam Kirsch highlights the importance of eclectic religious and worldly texts and authors for synagogue-shy Jews today.
Journalist Ben Ehrenreich's 'The Way to the Spring' offers a riveting - and admittedly one-sided - look at Palestinian society, its internal struggles and resistance against Israel.
That question is the subject of Danish journalist Klaus Wivel's nuanced and compelling new book about Christians in the West Bank and Gaza, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq.
Adina Hoffman's 'Till We Have Built Jerusalem: Architects of a New City' is a captivating history of her adopted city, told through the lives and buildings of three 20th-century visionaries.
Instead of being a lament for a lost pastrami past, Ted Merwin's well-researched history of the iconic Jewish delicatessen is a serious meditation on American Jewish culture.
That is the crux of a new book by modern Arab politics professor Joseph Massad, which reveals the unspoken cultural assumptions underlying human rights and other NGOs, and should be required reading for them.
Mohamedou Ould Slahi's 'Guantanamo Diary' is an American tragedy about the ongoing war on terror that touches on the Holocaust and finding freedom through faith.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter revisits the Camp David talks that led to Egyptian-Israeli peace in 1979. He finds an American president who seemed to want a deal more than the warring parties.
In portraying a saint-like Begin, Gordis is attempting to silence contemporary critics of today's Likud-led government.
Dara Horn audaciously combines a contemporary tale of love and suspense with a story spanning more than 1,000 years of Jewish history in Cairo.
A biography of Granville, nom de guerre of a Polish-Jewish woman who worked behind enemy lines for British intelligence in World War II, presents her neither as femme fatale nor woman in distress - but as the hero she is.
Though recognized universally today as the most important historical source about life in Second Temple-period Judea, not long ago Josephus was the black sheep of the Jewish family. Frederic Raphael tells his story, and finds added meaning in it.