For all those who flirt with history but find it a little hard to digest it from history books, there are the semi fictional historical books. In other words you get an infusion of history while you still feel the blueprint of the author who inserts through the lines episodes of trivial suspense. This is also the case of Exodus - by Leon Uris, in my opinion a book that is definitely worth reading for a series of reasons. In an uniquely precise manner it presents the evolution of the second world war, giving an overall perspective of the socio-political context and of the germing conflicts that stood at the root of its outburst. Even though it narrates the different stories of a series of fictive characters, the author manages to avoid chopping up the historical value of the book. The historic events are not presented liniarily but more intermingled, which boosts the suspense but at the same time still keeps a clear and logical pattern which enables the reader to mentally visualize the sequence of events.

The book tells the story of decades of persecution that were held against the Jewish communities in different parts of the world a long time before the outburst of the war. It locates dramas that took place in tsar-ruled Russia, Poland and the western Europe over years and Jewish migrations from one place to another in an seemingly futile struggle to find their place and their identity. It depicts the shocking climax of the jewish massacres with the rise of the fascist rule in Germany during the Second World War, the methods of extermination and the reactions of different nations to the nazi plans. The storyline goes on with the return of the Jews in the promised land, the several waves of Aliyah Beth and their strive in building up again a national identity through the redemption of land under the turkish rule and then under arab hostility. One of the most gripping parts of the book is the episode of land redemption and the establishing of the first settlements which take the form of kibutz and moshad. The rigidity of life, the unshaken determination and inhuman drill in reviving the barren lands and transforming them into blossoming, luxurious fields give the Jews little by little the right to regain their pride and autonomy. The repatriation scene reveals episodes of conflicts between arabs and new comers in the land and diplomatic international efforts or guerilla based wars sustained for attaining the ultimate scope - the reborn of the Jewish state. 

One thing though that I disliked in the author's approach is his lack of neutrality. There are passages that obviously reveal a taking side of the jews and a critical approach of the arab world, although there are fragments that tend to equilibrate the tone and to instill neutrality. There are evident writing strategies that diminish jewish flaws and magnifies arab lack of strategy, overdraws arab corruption and a sense of degradation (equally at a moral and a common sense level).

For all those who do not have the time to read the book but are interested in facts about the prolonged Jew Hating History, I wrote a few episodes that I consider relevant to it. You can find them in my Historical Pages.