What is an academically respected, detailed history of Israel?

Factual Questions
1

I am (as the title suggests) looking for a history of Israel that is detailed and respected (at least to a large extent) in the academic community.

What is such a history?

2

Selected reading lists from MIT OpenCourseWare:

Seminar on Politics and Conflict in the Middle East

Islam, the Middle East, and the West

The Middle East in 20th Century (PDF)

3

But, of course, your term, respected, is the fly in the ointment. There are a number of sources that would not be* respected *by partisans from different points of view on the matter of Israel’s history.

4

I had a textbook for a PoliSci class called “The Politics of the Middle East,” which I, rabid pro-Israel, was required to read, and I believed that it was objective. The instructor/Ph.D. who assigned it had been a Palestinian ‘activist’, and he said that he thought it was objective. The rest of the class, rabid anti-Bush, ergo, let’s nuke Israel because Bush etc…, also declared that it seemed objective to them, so I’d recommend it as being a quick, clear read, but not terribly in-depth, but it gave a good picture of why things are the way they are. Witten by…hang on…Yes, I didn’t throw it away…Monte Palmer.

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