My Country, My Life: Fighting for Israel, Searching for Peace

In this memoir of “the formative challenges in my life and in Israel’s,” Barak—who, after a military career, became Israel’s head of military intelligence, then its tenth prime minister, and later a defense minister for Benjamin Netanyahu—reveals a great deal about Israel’s post-1967 military, strategic, and diplomatic history. He lets readers in on debates within the military that preceded the 1976 Entebbe rescue and Israel’s plans to assassinate Saddam Hussein (dropped because of the First Gulf War). He also includes a detailed account of the 2000 Camp David meeting among President Bill Clinton, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and himself—the last significant attempt at a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. It foundered partly because of the thorniest peace issue of all: Jerusalem. (Arafat insisted on total Palestinian sovereignty over the Old City.) Barak ends by criticizing Netanyahu’s government, calling it “the most right-wing, deliberately divisive, narrow-minded, and messianic... we have seen in our seven-decade history.” While Barak stints on details about his personal life, his writing is clear and full of colorful anecdotes. This is a significant resource for understanding Israel’s recent history. Agent: Flip Brophy, Sterling Lord Literistic. (May)