Views and Reviews: Politics and Culture in the State of the Jews

Margalit adopts what he calls the role of the ""anthropologist's native informant"" to take a critical look at Israel. A professor of philosophy at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Margalit (The Decent Society) examines subjects as disparate as the role of the Holocaust in Israel; the philosopher Martin Buber; and Israeli kitsch, which he sees as a result of the socialist-oriented state's tight control over Israeli politics and culture in the early years of the state. His essays on the country's recent political leaders are, on the whole, insightful. Margalit notes, for instance, that Shimon Peres's legacy lies not in the peace accords signed between Israel and the Palestinians, but in the nuclear program that he oversaw in the 1950s. The essays, most of which were written in the early 1990s, have a dated feel to them, and at times Margalit's outspoken political views--he is a member of the Israeli peace camp--occasionally cloud his presentation, particularly in his pieces on conservative leaders Yitzhak Shamir and Benjamin Netanyahu. If last year's A Blood-Dimmed Tide by Amos Elon attacked the same subject and was ultimately more convincing, this will still appeal to readers who want to improve their knowledge of Israel's complex reality. (Nov.)