The tragedy in Israel has put us in mind of a few distinguished works about Jewish states past and present:
The Rape of Tamar, by Dan Jacobson. This stunning 1970 retelling of the rape of King David’s daughter by her half-brother Yonadab is yet another indication that the Bible is, of all books, the most contemporary.
City of Many Days, by Shulamith Hareven. A beautiful, spare portrait of Jewish and Arab families in 1936 Jerusalem.
The Jewish War, by Josephus. A bad Jew but a great historian, Josephus wrote this account of the Judean resistance to Roman rule. It’s a thrilling, sobering, and wonderfully enjoyable work.
