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In the books first essay, ''The Ben-Gurion Magnes Debate, Jewish State or Binational State,'' Professor Heller juxtaposes David Ben-Gurion and Judah L. Magnes as pivotal adversaries speaking to the primary problems of Zionist ideology and identity. He chooses the mythic personification of the State of Israel, the new nation's sturdiest founding father, its first commander-in-chief, first Prime Minister, and first Minister of Defense, David Ben-Gurion, to represent the Zionist position of a country just for the Jews. On equally matter-of-fact pragmatic grounds, Heller selects Ben-Gurion's foremost critic, the founding embattled Chancellor and President of the Hebrew University, Judah Magnes, to represent the bi-nationalist proponents of an Arab-Jewish joint entity that had not the remotest chance of acceptance by either Arabs or Jews. Conversely, the high expectations, moral fervor, and utter candor that imbue the Ben-Gurion-Magnes discourse, including joint interviews arranged by Magnes with Arab intellectuals that all failed, as conveyed by Heller, capture the essence of the Jewish-Arab dilemma and the beguiling authenticity and universalism of the Zionist vision at its most imaginative. Heller's companion essay, ''Israel's Borders in Historical Perspective: The Security-Demography Dilemma,'' provides a vivid running historical account and analysis of Israel's infra-structure, its borders and non-borders, its population densities and non-densities, its defenses and non-defenses in the face of the continual besiegement from the first day of its existence. Understandably, every young Israeli still remains conditioned to regard herself or himself to be a soldier on leave. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An excellent and educational read
The Palestine/Israeli conflict can be likened to a hundred sided Rubik's cube - almost impossible, maybe outright, to solve. "The Israel Palestine Puzzle" is a collection of two essays discussing the touchy subject of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The two essays are 'The Ben-Gurion Magnes Debate, Jewish State or Binational State' and 'Israel's Borders in Historical Perspective: The Security-Demography Dilemma'. The two essays are from Joseph Heller, an internationally educated Jewish man who has won awards with his ideas, making "The Israel Palestine Puzzle" an excellent and educational read.
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This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Catch-22, Something Happened, Picture This, Good as Gold, Closing Time, Portrait of an Artist, as an Old Man, God Knows. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: Catch-22 is a satirical, historical novel by the American author Joseph Heller, first published in 1961. The novel, set during the later stages of World War II from 1943 onwards, is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the twentieth century. It has a distinctive non-chronological style where events are described from different characters' points of view and out of sequence so that the time line develops along with the plot. The novel follows Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier, and a number of other characters. Most events occur while the airmen of the fictional 256th squadron are based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea west of Italy. Among other things, Catch-22 is a general critique of bureaucratic operation and reasoning. Resulting from its specific use in the book, the phrase "Catch-22" is common idiomatic usage meaning "a no-win situation" or "a double bind" of any type. Within the book, "Catch-22" is a military rule, the self-contradictory circular logic that, for example, prevents anyone from avoiding combat missions. In Heller's own words: There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't hav...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=55469 ... Read more

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Get your "A" in gear!

They're today's most popular study guides-with everything you need to succeed in school. Written by Harvard students for students, since its inception SparkNotes™ has developed a loyal community of dedicated users and become a major education brand. Consumer demand has been so strong that the guides have expanded to over 150 titles.SparkNotes'™ motto is Smarter, Better, Faster because:

· They feature the most current ideas and themes, written by experts.
· They're easier to understand, because the same people who use them have also written them.
· The clear writing style and edited content enables students to read through the material quickly, saving valuable time.

And with everything covered--context; plot overview; character lists; themes, motifs, and symbols; summary and analysis, key facts; study questions and essay topics; and reviews and resources--you don't have to go anywhere else!



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Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Accompaniment to the Original
SparkNotes: Catch-22 presents an unsentimental vision of war, without romantic pretenses, glory, and honor. Instead, we find a nightmarish comedy of violence, bureaucracy, and paradoxical madness. The story is told as a series of loosely related mini-stories in no particular order. Leadership continually raises the number of missions required for the men to go home - it makes the leaders look good. The leaders pay more attention to the quality of aerial bombing photographs than the actual bombing results.

The M.D., counselor, and chaplain values each become subverted by their war duties. The doctor ends up providing useless treatments, the counselor unavailable for appointments, and the chaplain loses faith in god. All three are rewarded by the hierarchy, and none are punished.

Yossarian, the central figure, focuses on his own survival, faking various illnesses and troubled by the death of Snowden who had died in his arms on a bombing run. Yossarian discovers its possible to be discharged because of insanity, only to also learn that by claiming to be insane one has proven himself sane. That's 'Catch-22.'

Meanwhile, mess officer Milo Minderbinder gets fabulously rich through trading by his various companies, including at one point with the Germans who subcontract with him to conduct a bombing run on the American base. Eventually, Yossarian goes AWOL, is offered a court-martial or discharge - the latter if he supports the leaders' new mandate for 80 millions. Yossarian avoids the moral temptation by fleeing to Sweden.

The Sparks Notes summary provides an excellent overview of the motifs and characters, as well as chapter summaries. It also supplies good suggestions on writing a book summary, or essays in general. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Joseph Heller, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 8077 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Customer Reviews (1)

1 click.
Firstly I'd like to say that if I could have actually read the book it probably would have been useful for my project that's due tomorrow. I purchased it with the one-click option, which said I would be able to download the book and view it on my computer instantly. So, after buying it I wen to my Media Library and pressed "download" under the see this item box. It sent me to a page that said this book isn't currently available to download. I clicked the link again and it brought me to a site related to the book that cited it. If that page were a book it would probably be about 5 pages long.
I spent 8 something dollars on a book I can't read. Don't make that mistake. ... Read more

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Average people often imagine kings,heroes and greatwarriors as superhuman creatures who are alwaysperfect,who are able to see over their realms,whosefeelings are adapted to the reality and the needs oftheir countries.However,they are only human beingswith average problems,average feelings.They can betalented children,brave soldiers,great artists,butthey can feel love,jealousy,pain,furthermore hungerand tiredness.They grow old and they have to die in the end,just asany other people in the world.This book describes a great king,David,from the OldTestament,from a human point of view.It especiallywants to underline that in spite of his greatdeeds,his talent,his heroism,he is only a human beingand cannot escape his fate.The king even agrees that"...one event happens to usall...",still he dares to challenge God's wrath,hedares not to speak to Him. Finally,he has to realizethat everything was in vain,that his only companionon his deathbed and after it cannot be anyone else.This book should be especially useful to students ofAmerican Literature or History of the biblicaltimes,or anyone else who are interested in an averageman's life happened to be a king. ... Read more

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Potts here provides a comprehensive critical examination of Joseph Heller's literary career, from his earliest published short stories to Closing Time (1994), the long-awaited sequel to Catch-22. Complete with Chronology, Notes, Primary Bibliography, Secondary Bibliography, and Index. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from The Review of Contemporary Fiction, published by Review of Contemporary Fiction on June 22, 2003. The length of the article is 984 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Joseph Heller. Catch as Catch Can: the Collected Stories and Other Writings.(Book Review)
Author: Thomas Hove
Publication: The Review of Contemporary Fiction (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2003
Publisher: Review of Contemporary Fiction
Volume: 23Issue: 2Page: 133(1)

Article Type: Book Review

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This digital document is an article from Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, published by Bibliographical Society of Canada on September 22, 2003. The length of the article is 1167 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Matthew J. Bruccoli & Park Bucker. Joseph Heller: a Descriptive Bibliography.(Book Review)
Author: Lisa Sherlock
Publication: Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2003
Publisher: Bibliographical Society of Canada
Volume: 41Issue: 2Page: 105(4)

Article Type: Book Review

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Chapters: Richard Nixon, Fay Wray, José Raúl Capablanca, Joseph Heller, Jack Wrangler, Oleg Cassini, James Whitcomb, Allen Klein, Sam Cohn, Igor Cassini, Lou Dorfsman, Michael Higgins, Marilyn French, Charles Proctor Sifton, Selma Jeanne Cohen, Thomas J. Kelly. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 153. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States from 19691974 and was also the 36th Vice President of the United States (19531961). Nixon was the only President to resign the office and also the only person to be elected twice to both the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California. After completing his undergraduate work at Whittier College, he graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937 and returned to California to practice law in La Habra. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the United States Navy, serving in the Pacific theater, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander during World War II. He was elected in 1946 as a Republican to the House of Representatives representing California's 12th Congressional district, and in 1950 to the United States Senate. He was selected to be the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party nominee, in the 1952 Presidential election, becoming one of the youngest Vice Presidents in history. He waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of California in 1962; following these losses, Nixon announced his withdrawal from political life. In 1968, however, he ran again for president of the United States and was elected. The most immediate task facing President Nixon was a resolution of the Vietnam War. He initially es...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=25473 ... Read more