# What is an academically respected, detailed history of Israel?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-academically-respected-detailed-history-of-israel/519410>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 30, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-academically-respected-detailed-history-of-israel/519410 "2009-11-30T01:27:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bith_Shuffle)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-academically-respected-detailed-history-of-israel/519410/1 "2009-11-30T01:27:33Z")

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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?

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**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-academically-respected-detailed-history-of-israel/519410/2 "2009-11-30T02:04:29Z")

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Selected reading lists from MIT OpenCourseWare:

[Seminar on Politics and Conflict in the Middle East](http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Political-Science/17-405Fall2003/Readings/index.htm)

[Islam, the Middle East, and the West](http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/History/21H-601Fall-2006/Readings/index.htm)

[The Middle East in 20th Century](http://ocw.mit.edu/NR/rdonlyres/History/21H-615The-Middle-East-in-20th-CenturySpring2003/E53CCB43-A08A-41A1-A86E-E5497C2A8313/0/21h615_syllabus_s09.pdf) (PDF)

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**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\
**Post date:** [November 30, 2009, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-academically-respected-detailed-history-of-israel/519410/3 "2009-11-30T04:55:02Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-academically-respected-detailed-history-of-israel/519410/4 "2009-12-01T21:47:19Z")

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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.

hh