if you want to learn more about Israel?
Here is a categorized list of books to get you started.
Disclaimer: I have read many, but not all, of them, though I'm working on it.
The pictures link to their pages on Amazon.
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HISTORY
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Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore
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Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn by Daniel Gordis
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Return to Zion: The History of Modern Israel by Eric Gartman
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Israel: A History by Martin Gilbert
A Voice Called: Stories of Jewish Heroism by Yossi Katz
The Heights of Courage by Avigdor Kahalani (about the Yom Kippur War in the Golan Heights)
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The Letters of Yonatan (Jonathan) Netanyahu by Benjamin and Iddo Netanyahu
Six Days of War – June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Michael Oren
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1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War by Benny Morris
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Palestine Betrayed - Efraim Karsh
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Spies of No Country by ​Matti Friedman
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The October 7th War: Israel's Battle for Security in Gaza by Seth Frantzman
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Mossad – The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service by Nissim Mishal and Michael Bar-Zohar
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Our Man in Damascus - Eli Cohen by Elie Ben-Hanan
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One Palestine, Complete by Tom Segev (about the British Mandate period)
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O Jerusalem! by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins
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From Time Immemorial - Joan Peters
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HOLOCAUST
Out of the Depths by Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau
Night by Elie Wiesel
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Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
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SOCIETY
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Israel 201 by Joel Chasnoff & Benji Lovitt
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#IsraeliJudaism by Shmuel Rosner and Camil Fuchs
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Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth by Noa Tishby
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Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew by Emmanuel Acho and Noa Tishby
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How To Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss
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POLITICS
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The Zionist Ideas: Visions for the Jewish Homeland? Then, Now, Tomorrow by Gil Troy
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The Prime Ministers by Yehuda Avner
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The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz
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My Promised Land by Ari Shavit
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The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream
has Obstructed the Path to Peace by Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf
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Dancing Arabs by Sayed Kashua
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Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor by Yossi Klein Halevi
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Winning the War of Words: Essays on Israel and Zionism by Einat Wilf
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Saving Israel: How the Jewish People Can Win a War That May Never End by Daniel Gordis​​​​
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Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel by Francine Klagsbrun
Catch 67: The Left, The Right, and the Legacy of the Six-Day War by Micah Goodman
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No Room for Small Dreams: Courage, Imagination and the Making of Modern Israel by Shimon Peres
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Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation by ​Yossi Klein Halevi
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The Arab Predicament by Fouad Ajami
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CULINARY
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Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
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Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi
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Zahav by Michael Solomonov
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Israeli Soul by Michael Solomonov
The New Book of Israeli Food by Janna Gur
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Breaking Breads by Uri Scheft
The Foods of Israel Today by Joan Nathan
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Sababa by Adeena Sussman
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Balaboosta by Einat Admony
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Shuk by Einat Admony and Janna Gur
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Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel
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The Palomar Cookbook by Assaf Granit, Uri Navon and Tomer Amedi
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Divine Food: Israeli and Palestinian Food Culture and Recipes by David Haliva
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Shabbat: Recipes and Rituals from My Table to Yours by Adeena Sussman
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TECHNOLOGY
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Isresilience: What Israelis Can Teach the World by Michael Dickson and Naomi L. Baum
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Start Up Nation by Saul Singer and Dan Senor
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Thou Shalt Innovate: How Israeli Ingenuity Repairs the World by Avi Jorisch
Let There Be Water: Israel's Solution for a Water-Starved World by Seth Siegel
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Chutzpah: Why Israel Is a Hub of Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Inbal Arieli
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Israel's Edge: The Story of The IDF's Most Elite Unit - Talpiot by Jason Gewirtz
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Israel: The Start-up Nation for Medical Innovation by Rob Norman
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The Weapon Wizards: How Israel Became a High-Tech Military Superpower by Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot
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RELIGION
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In his own category: Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. Rabbi Sacks is the former Chief Rabbi of Britain and for me is perhaps the premier Jewish philosopher, writer and ethicist of our time. Really anything by him is a treasure. He has tons of stuff up on his website, notably about leadership and ethics, and you can sign up for his weekly email there as well: http://rabbisacks.org/
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Some of my favorite books of his include:
Radical Then, Radical Now
To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility
Celebrating Life: Finding Happiness in Unexpected Places
Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times
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Everything Else:
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The Accidental Zionist - What a Priest, a Pornographer and a Wrestler Named Chainsaw taught me about being Jewish, saving the world and why Israel matters to both by Rabbi Ian Pear
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Judaism's 10 Best Ideas: A Brief Guide for Seekers by Rabbi Art Green
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Pirkei Avot: Ethics of our Ancestors (lots of options for this)
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Walking the Bible by Bruce Feiler
Abraham by Bruce Feiler
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Jewish Meditation by Aryeh Kaplan
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Judaism's Great Debates: Timeless Controversies from Abraham to Herzl by Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz
The JPS B'nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary by Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin (see the dedication page)
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The JPS Birthright Torah Commentary (JPS Study Bible) by Rabbi Eli Garfinkel (see the dedication page)
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The Israel Bible - focused on the land of Israel, the people of Israel and the relationship between them
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Who Wrote the Bible by Richard Elliott Friedman (for those interested in the documentary hypothesis)
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Israeli Judaism: Portrait of a Cultural Revolution by Shmuel Rosner and Camil Fuchs
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What I Wish They Would Have Taught Me In Sunday School About Science, The Bible and God by Philip Singerman
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Justice for All: How the Jewish Bible Revolutionized Ethics by Jeremiah Unterman
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LIterature
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In general, anything by Amos Oz, Etgar Keret, David Grossman, Shai Agnon, Meir Shalev and A.B. Yehoshua
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That being said, here are a few good lists:
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https://forward.com/life/399070/if-you-want-to-understand-israel-read-its-literature/
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https://www.israel21c.org/11-must-read-israeli-books-for-your-summer-reading-list/
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Plus, I love the historical fiction books by both Daniel Silva and Jon Land.
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If you are coming to Israel, here are a few good books to help sites come alive:
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The Source by James Michener
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Exodus by Leon Uris
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The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
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The Rock: A Tale of Seventh-Century Jerusalem by Kanan Makiya
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Rebel Daughter by Lori Banov Kaufmann
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A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz
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Day After Night by Anita Diamant
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The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem by Sarit Yishai-Levi
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