GoldaThe first female head of state in the Western world and one of the most influential women in modern history, Golda Meir was a member of the tiny coterie of founders of the State of Israel, the architect of its socialist infrastructure, and its most tenacious international defender. Her uncompromising devotion to shaping and defending a Jewish homeland against dogged enemies and skittish allies stunned political contemporaries skeptical about the stamina of an elderly leader, and transformed Middle Eastern politics for decades to follow. A blend of Emma Goldman and Martin Luther King Jr. in the guise of a cookie-serving grandmother, Meir was a tough-as-nails politician who issued the first prescient warnings about the rise of international terrorism, out-maneuvered Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger at their own game of realpolitik, and led Israel through a bloody war even as she eloquently pleaded for peace. A prodigious fundraiser and persuasive international voice, Golda carried the nation through its most perilous hours while she herself battled cancer. In this masterful biography, critically acclaimed author and Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist Elinor Burkett looks beyond Meir's well-known accomplishments to the complex motivations and ideals, personal victories and disappointments, of her charismatic public persona. Beginning with Meir's childhood in virulently anti-Semitic Russia and her family's subsequent relocation to the United States, Burkett places Meir within the framework of the American immigrant experience, the Holocaust, and the single-mindedness of a generation that carved a nation out of its own nightmares and dreams. She paints a vivid portrait of a legendary woman defined by contradictions: an iron resolve coupled with magnetic charm, an utter ordinariness of appearance matched to extraordinary achievements, a kindly demeanor that disguised a stunning hard-heartedness, and a complete dedication to her country that often overwhelmed her personal relationships. To produce this definitive account of Meir's life, Burkett mined historical records never before examined by any researcher, and interviewed members of Meir's inner circle, many going on record for the first time. The result is an astounding portrait of one of the most commanding political presences of the twentieth century—a woman whose uncompromising commitment to the creation and preservation of a Jewish state fueled and framed the ideological conflicts that still define Middle Eastern relations today. |
From inside the book
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... mothers and fathers , the young boys in the trenches on the hills on the Suez and on the Jordan , the young widows , orphaned children and , yet , a people whose spirit is high , whose determination is unwavering , ” she said . She was ...
... diverted themselves by driving nails through his mother - in - law's eyes . two - year - old boy's tongue was cut out while he was still alive . Bodies were A hacked in half or gutted and stuffed with chicken feathers GOLDA 15.
... mother . But she already knew that there was nothing Bluma could do , that Jews were helpless in the face of such hatred , a lesson she'd absorbed when rumors of a pogrom spread through Pinsk . Goldie didn't quite understand what a ...
... mother's fiery temper, refused to succumb to the despondency and added the misery of incessant fighting to the dreary mix. “I want to go to school,” Sheyna insisted. What for? Bluma practically spat. Girls don't need an education; they ...
... mother mercilessly , reporting on all of her escapades and near run - ins with the police . After months of door slamming , threats , and screaming , Bluma locked Sheyna out of the house . The expulsion didn't last long , but Bluma laid ...
Contents
1 | |
23 | |
45 | |
Chapter Four | 61 |
Chapter Five | 75 |
Chapter Seven | 105 |
Chapter Eight | 125 |
Chapter Nine | 147 |
Chapter Thirteen | 229 |
Chapter Fourteen | 257 |
Chapter Fifteen | 283 |
Chapter Sixteen | 309 |
Chapter Seventeen | 337 |
Conclusion | 371 |
Acknowledgments | 387 |
Bibliography | 429 |