cover image The Jewish Radical Right: Revisionist Zionism and Its Ideological Legacy

The Jewish Radical Right: Revisionist Zionism and Its Ideological Legacy

Eran Kaplan. University of Wisconsin Press, $35 (248pp) ISBN 978-0-299-20380-1

Largely overlooked for not fitting into the mainstream liberal paradigm of socialist Zionist politics, Zionist Revisionists, representing the radical right of Zionism, have been ignored largely by politicians, historians and academics for much of this century. This error of omission is one that Kaplan, assistant professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Cincinnati, sets out to correct by tracing the Revisionist philosophy and movement that evolved under the leadership of Ze'ev Jabotinsky in the 1920s and '30s. In this well-researched volume, Kaplan presents Revisionist Zionism as a movement not limited to a merely militaristic platform, as it has often been characterized, but rather as ""a comprehensive national philosophy that sought to refashion every aspect of Jewish national life in its image."" Military force was still certainly central to the Revisionist view. Unlike the socialist platform of the Laborites, the Revisionists were singularly concerned with creating a Jewish state by any means necessary; accordingly, this belief informed every aspect of the Revisionist view. Considering the tremendous rise of the Likud (the modern-day incarnation of the Revisionist movement) in Israeli politics, it's clear that the Revisionists have had an impact on the conscience of the Israeli people. And Kaplan's study, with its wealth of archival evidence, is a timely, intriguing read for those hoping to better understand the complicated nature of culture and politics in Israel today.