Ben-Gurion: A Political Life - Shimon Peres (2011)
A NOTE ON SOURCES
The main source for this book was a series of lively, freewheeling conversations between Shimon Peres and me on Friday mornings over a period of many months during 2009 and 2010 at his residence in Jerusalem. Mr. Peres’s remarkable mind and teeming memory made those meetings a treasured experience for me and my research assistant, Shira Philosof.
To help us in our talking and writing, we had recourse to the books and archival material listed below.
—David Landau
1. Beginnings
Quoted material in this chapter comes from
Michael Bar-Zohar. Ben-Gurion: A Political Biography (Hebrew, 3 vols.). Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1977.
David Ben-Gurion. My Father’s House (Hebrew). Edited by Peter Frye and Amos Ettinger. Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1975.
David Ben-Gurion. Memoirs, vol. 1 (Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1971.
David Ben-Gurion. The Letters of David Ben-Gurion, vol. 1, 1904-1919. Edited by Yehuda Erez. Tel Aviv: Am Oved and Tel Aviv University, 1972.
Achdouth. September-October 1910.
Additional source of reference
Shimon Peres. Battling for Peace. Edited by David Landau. New York: Random House, 1995.
2. Young Turk
Quoted material in this chapter comes from
Bar-Zohar. Ben-Gurion: A Political Biography.
Ben-Gurion. Letters of David Ben-Gurion.
The Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism website, http://bgarchives.bgu.ac.il/archives.
Additional sources of reference
Peres. Battling for Peace.
Barnet Litvinoff. Ben-Gurion of Israel. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1954.
3. Union Boss
Quoted material in this chapter comes from
Bar-Zohar. Ben-Gurion: A Political Biography.
Chaim Weizmann. Trial and Error: The Autobiography of Chaim
Weizmann. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1949.
Ben-Gurion. Letters of David Ben-Gurion, vol. 2, 1920-1928.
Ben-Gurion. Memoirs, vol. 1.
Anita Shapira. Yosef Haim Brenner: A Biography (Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2008.
Shabtai Teveth. Kin’at David: Chayei David Ben-Gurion, vol. 2 (Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Schocken, 1981.
Additional sources of reference
The Labor Movement in Israel website, http://tnuathaavoda.info.
The Ben-Gurion Research Institute.
4. Onward and Upward
Quoted material in this chapter comes from
Anita Shapira. Berl: The Biography of a Socialist Zionist: Berl Katznelson, 1887-1994. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
David Ben-Gurion. Talks with Arab Leaders (Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1967.
Ben-Gurion. Memoirs, vol. 1.
Davar. Historical Jewish Press website, www.jpress.org.il.
Additional sources of reference
Bar-Zohar. Ben-Gurion: A Political Biography.
Ben-Gurion Research Institute.
Herut, The National Movement website, www.herut.org.il/hebrew_new/jabo.html.
5. What Could He Do?
Quoted material in this chapter comes from
Shabtai Tevet. Ben-Gurion and the Holocaust. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1986.
David S. Wyman. The Abandonment of the Jews. New York: Pantheon Books, 1985.
Dina Porat, ed. When Disaster Comes from Afar (Hebrew). Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi, 2009.
Weizmann. Trial and Error.
Shapira. Berl: The Biography of a Socialist Zionist.
Shimon Peres and Robert Little. For the Future of Israel. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.
Additional sources of reference
Michael Bar-Zohar. Ben-Gurion: A Biography. Translated by Peretz Kidron. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1978.
Ben-Gurion Research Institute.
6. Fateful Hour
Quoted material in this chapter comes from
David Ben-Gurion. Israel: A Personal History. Translated by Nechemia Myers and Uzy Nystar. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1971.
Moshe Sharett. Personal Diary (Hebrew, 8 vols.). Tel Aviv: Sifriat Maariv, 1978.
Bar-Zohar. Ben-Gurion: A Political Biography.
David Ben-Gurion. At War (Hebrew), vol. 5. Tel Aviv: Mapai, 1950.
7. Birth Pangs
Quoted material in this chapter comes from
Ben-Gurion. Israel: A Personal History.
Ben-Gurion. At War.
David Ben-Gurion. When Israel Waged War (Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Mapai, 1951.
David Ben-Gurion. Army and Defense (Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Maarchot, 1955.
Bar-Zohar. Ben-Gurion: A Political Biography.
Golda Meir. My Life. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1975.
Additional sources of reference Davar.
Haganah website, http://www.hagana.co.il.
8. Settling In
Quoted material in this chapter comes from
Bar-Zohar. Ben-Gurion: A Political Biography.
Weizmann. Trial and Error.
Pinhas Yurman. A State Starts Up (Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Gvanim, 2007.
Peres, Battling for Peace.
Additional sources of reference
Sharett. Personal Diary.
Nir Kedar. Mamlakhtiyut: David Ben-Gurion’s Civic Thought. Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi, 2009.
9. Jewish People, Jewish Policy
Quoted material in this chapter comes from
Bar-Zohar. Ben-Gurion: A Political Biography.
Additional sources of reference
Haaretz.
Central Bureau of Statistics. Israel Statistical Annual, no. 4, 1952.
Ben-Gurion Research Institute.
Davar.
11. Defense of the Realm
Quoted material in this chapter comes from
Benny Morris. Israel’s Border Wars, 1949-1956: Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation, and the Countdown to the Suez War. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Moshe Dayan. Story of My Life (Hebrew). Jerusalem and Tel Aviv: Edanim/Dvir, 1976.
Bar-Zohar. Ben-Gurion: A Political Biography.
Peres. Battling for Peace.
Additional sources of reference
Motti Golani. There Will Be War Next Summer …: The Road to the Sinai War, 1955-1956. Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence, 1997.
Mordechai Bar-On. The Gates of Gaza: Israel’s Defense and Foreign Policy, 1955-1957 (Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1992.
12. Soured Fruit
Quoted material in this chapter comes from
Bar-Zohar. Ben-Gurion: A Political Biography.
Additional sources of reference
Peres. Battling for Peace.
Haggai Eshed. Who Gave the Order? (Hebrew). Jerusalem: Edanim, 1979.