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ARIK: The Life of Ariel Sharon Audiobook
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From the former editor in chief of Haaretz, the first in-depth, comprehensive biography of Ariel Sharon, the most dramatic and imposing Israeli political and military leader of the last forty years. The life of Ariel Sharon spans much of modern Israel’s history. A commander in the Israeli Army from its inception in 1948, Sharon participated in the 1948 War of Independence, played decisive roles in the 1956 Suez War and the Six-Day War of 1967, and is credited here with the shift in the outcome of the Yom Kippur War of 1973. After leaving the professional army, Sharon became a political leader and served in numerous governments, most prominently as the defense minister during the 1982 Lebanon War in which he bore “personal responsibility,” according to the state’s commission of inquiry, for massacres of Palestinian civilians by Lebanese militia. As a general and as a politician, he championed the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. But as prime minister, he performed a dramatic reversal: orchestrating Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Landau brilliantly chronicles Sharon’s surprising about-face, combining the immediacy of firsthand reportage with the analysis and independent insight of a historian’s perspective. Sharon suffered a stroke in January 2006 and remains in a persistent vegetative state. This biography recounts the life of the man who is considered by many to be Israel’s greatest military leader and political statesman, illustrating how Sharon’s leadership transformed Israel, and how his views were shaped by the changing nature of Israeli society.
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“Compiling the life of a man who was a commander, officer, and major general in the Israeli Army in addition to a statesman, party leader, and prime minister in the Israeli government is an intimidating undertaking…However, journalist Landau…succeeds dutifully in bringing this multifaceted life to the page. With great research and noticeable interest, Landau depicts Ariel Sharon as a man who [was] more complex than any one of his multitude of titles and the subsequent criticism he endured as a public servant.”
— Publishers Weekly
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“It is Sharon’s wholly surprising journey from ruthless military commander to what Landau calls ‘national father figure,’ from territory expanding champion to Palestinian state advocate, that most interests Landau in Arik: The Life of Ariel Sharon, his fine, comprehensive and readable biography…The book closely chronicles Sharon’s epic military and political battles, serving as a kind of national history.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“[Landau’s] thorough, balanced, and scrupulously fair biography makes clear why Sharon was capable of winning respect and admiration, even from his staunch political opponents…This is an outstanding, warts-and-all portrait of an arguably great, if not a particularly likable, Israeli leader.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“A thorough, extremely candid description and assessment of the military and political lives of the controversial Sharon…The author…displays a deep familiarity with the details and contexts of Sharon’s career…[and] is also adept in the descriptions of the labyrinthine political world of Israel during Sharon’s era. Splendid reporting, comprehensive research and probing analysis inform this unblinking view of a complicated man and a sanguinary geography.”
— Kirkus (starred review) -
“Having interviewed a wide range of people who knew Sharon and offer their opinions of his actions, military and political, Landau presents a veritable Who’s Who of Israel over the last several decades. He succeeds in giving the reader a truly human portrait of one of Israel’s greatest and most controversial leaders…Very much of interest to anyone concerned with the past, present, and future of modern Israel.”
— Library Journal
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About David Landau
David Landau (1947–2015) was the founding editor of the English edition of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Prior to that, he was the diplomatic correspondent and managing editor of The Jerusalem Post. He was the author of Piety and Power: The World of Jewish Fundamentalism and worked with Shimon Peres on his memoir, Battling for Peace.
About Walter Dixon
Walter Dixon is a broadcast media veteran of more than twenty years’ experience with a background in theater and performing arts and voice work for commercials. After a career in public radio, he is now a full-time narrator with more than fifty audiobooks recorded in genres ranging from religion and politics to children’s stories.