Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Exodus

4.28 of 5 stars 4.28 · rating details · 38,119 ratings · 880 reviews

Exodus is an international publishing phenomenon--the towering novel of the twentieth century's most dramatic geopolitical event.Leon Uris magnificently portrays the birth of a new nation in the midst of enemies--the beginning of an earthshaking struggle for power.Here is the tale that swept the world with its fury: the story of an American nurse, an Israeli freedom fighte...more

Paperback, 608 pages

Published October 1st 1983 by Bantam (first published 1958)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

Best Historical Fiction

53rd out of 3,225 books — 14,016 voters

Best Books of the 20th Century

211th out of 4,762 books — 31,982 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Nov 18, 2012 Noa rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

Recommended to Noa by: My dad

It feels as if my life truly started when I read this book. There are no words for it. It shaped who I am today. It's beautiful, amazing, awe-inspiring, and so much more. I used to read this at night before I went to bed to give myself happy dreams.I dreamed about the courage and honor and bravery and love that venerates through each and every word of the book. I dreamed that I could have half of the bravery of the characters. It is a beautiful, amazing book.
I wrote this (^) four years ago. Hon...more

20 likes · like · see review

May 27, 2008 Cayce rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book is useful for learning the romantic Zionist version of events surrounding 1948, but contrary to several of the reviews here, it is NOT a reliable historical source or one I would recommend for those interested in seriously learning about the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Describing this book as an accurate historical account from which to draw important information about the conflict is akin to promoting Gone With the Wind as a complete guide to the American Civil War. Uri...more This book is useful for learning the romantic Zionist version of events surrounding 1948, but contrary to several of the reviews here, it is NOT a reliable historical source or one I would recommend for those interested in seriously learning about the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Describing this book as an accurate historical account from which to draw important information about the conflict is akin to promoting Gone With the Wind as a complete guide to the American Civil War. Uris facilitates prejudice against Arabs in his work and perpetuates a number of myths now dispelled by state-released documents. True, there are historical facts, but the rendering in Exodus is only half the story, and a largely unrealistic half at that. I read this book before I knew very much about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the history of 1948 and its immediate preceding years. I enjoyed it a lot more before I learned about what really happened during the 1948 war--and then I was more disturbed by the book's negligence of even the most basic and formative facts. I certainly liked many parts of the story--I enjoyed the parts about the Hasidic Jews (the creation of this sect of Judaism interested me a lot), the pogroms, and the Jewish refugees in Cyprus. However, it is greatly disconcerting that Uris makes a point to say in the book that all of the Palestinians left of their own accord, a statement which only helps to perpetuate a very destructive myth surrounding this conflict, amongst MANY others evident in the book. Granted, he wrote it before Israel released several secret documents in the '80s from which today's accepted historical narrative has been drawn, and it IS a work of fiction, but works of fiction shouldn't gloss over uncomfortable historical facts, or attempt to justify or alleviate the injustice of the creation and dispossession of an entire refugee population. If you're looking for a romantic adventure story, then you will probably like it. However, if you are interested in a piece of work that seriously discusses the 1948 war I recommend Benny Morris' Righteous Victims and The Birth of the Refugee Problem Revisited as well as works by Shlomo Ben-Ami and James Gelvin just to name a few.(less)

36 likes · like · see review

May 04, 2011 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Ultimate Reading List

Shelves: historical-fiction, ultimate-reading-list, popular-fiction, fiction, novels

An Israeli friend of mine first recommended Uris--particularly his The Haj, about Arab/Israeli relations, and I remember liking that novel. Maybe it's that my tastes have changed, or just that this was one of Uris' first novels, but my impression of this one is that it had the materials to be a gripping, first-rate story if only Uris got out of his own way.

Uris attempts to tell the story of the birth of modern Israel--and maybe takes on too much. The story, set in 1946, is framed as being about...more An Israeli friend of mine first recommended Uris--particularly his The Haj, about Arab/Israeli relations, and I remember liking that novel. Maybe it's that my tastes have changed, or just that this was one of Uris' first novels, but my impression of this one is that it had the materials to be a gripping, first-rate story if only Uris got out of his own way.

Uris attempts to tell the story of the birth of modern Israel--and maybe takes on too much. The story, set in 1946, is framed as being about the refugee ship Exodus, and attempts to force the British, who rule over Palestine, to allow the survivors of the Holocaust being kept in camps in Cyprus to sail to the promised land. Studded through this tale are flashbacks of various characters to help us understand what helps drive these immigrants.

There's the tale of Karen Clement, a German Jew who found refuge among the Danes, whose King said in a broadcast to his occupied country, that if any in his kingdom had to wear a band with a yellow star, he'd be the first--and whose people then evacuated their Jewish population to Sweden rather than let the Nazi's have them. But then Karen found the Holocaust orphaned her. There's Dov Landau, who as a young boy took part in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, and then captured by the Nazis wound up shipped to Auschwitz. There's Ari Ben Canaan, whose father fled from the "Jewish Pale" of Russia and helped reclaim the land from the desert.

The style is pretty pedestrian--very simple syntax, intrusive tagging, and boy, someone please take away the exclamation point key from this man. The characters strike me as flat, and Ari Ben Canaan, arguably the main character, is very much a Marty Sue. But by and large what kills this story is that it violates the first rule of writing--show, don't tell. Too many stories are laid out in narrative, as dry history, so that I wonder what is the point of making this fiction. Like another recent novel with fascinating historical detail but less than strong storytelling (one about Josephine Bonaparte) this left me wishing I had picked up a non-fiction book about the events and movements touched upon--Zionism, the Warshaw Ghetto uprising, the founding of Israel--the Danish resistance to the Nazis, rather than this work of fiction.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Mar 06, 2008 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone wishing to understand the origins of the arab israeli conflict

Among the top five books I have ever read, and also one of the most important.

A poignant and beautifully-told story that shares a painful struggle in Jewish history - one of the many that goes untalked about in modern history classes. This book should be mandatory reading in all highschools. Although it is a novel, it is completely framed in historical facts (I know because the stuff I read was so unbelievable, I had to look it up for myself to see if it was true - I even found publically-avail...more

14 likes · like · see review

Aug 20, 2007 Raelene rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Absolutely Everyone

Shelves: historical-fiction

Excellent; one of the best works of historical fiction I've read. I gobbled it up and couldn't get enough in one sitting. This story of the Jews is amazing and seemed to me more powerful than any one account of the Holocaust I've read because it's not one individual's or one family's ordeal, but the story of an entire people - you really feel the tragedy of their history and the glory of their hard-won victory in gaining their own state. Beautiful and moving.

From an old notebook I found this wee...more

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 26, 2007 Dorai Thodla rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this somewhere in early seventies (probably 1973/74). That was the time to read a lot of Leon Uris. I think it started with QB IIV which I borrowed from Shantha. At that time with a low pay and lots of long hours in the evening (our shift at ECIL would end at 3PM), reading books, listening to radio were the only sources of entertainment.

Of couse, we filled lots of vacant time with talking about books. That was the period of James A Michner, Leon Uris and Larry Niven and Isaac Asimov.

I di...more

3 likes · like · see review

Feb 19, 2008 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Really, this is one of my all time fave books. It really captures the history (ACCURATELY, I might add!) of how the country of modern-day Israel was born and all the incredible struggles that the Jews faced from seemingly every direction. A fantastic historical novel, even thought it's fiction. I highly recommend this to anyone who feels they could beef up on their historical understanding of the middle east of today--will really help you read through the western media when watching the news!

6 likes · like · see review

Dec 03, 2007 Erika rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

one of my favorite books, I just wish a few more people would read it!

Fantastic way to learn more about the Jewish history as a whole and the Jewish National Movement specifically. Plus, it has a really great love story!

I learned so much that I did not know or understand about Jewish history, and in such an easy-read format. Takes a little while to get moving, but so worth it!

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 31, 2007 Dara rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: The Tribe

Shelves: historicalfiction

I was reading this during my March of the Living trip and it greatly impacted the experience of arriving in Israel after a few miserable days in Poland. As I began to settle in among "my people" and the Israeli soldiers who travled with us, I also began to feel rather attached to the characters in the book and I'm not ashamed to admit I had several cathartic moments.

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 30, 2008 Denise rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone that seeks knowledge about the state of Israel

This book brought me a new perspective on the holocaust and its refugees, the history if Israel as a Jewish state, and the turmoil and struggle that come from violence. It was layered with fictional characters and love stories throughout that made it a more enjoyable read.

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 24, 2007 Sammy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I grew up on the movie but never read the book. Received the book as a present and immediately I became a huge fan of the author, reading everything he ever wrote. My regret is i didn't read the author's books while he was still alive, perhaps I could've met him.

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 22, 2007 Justin rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone interested in Israel, Judaism, Historical Fiction

Very much related to the founding of Israel with fictional characters. Very good read - Leon Uris always puts a lot of effort into his books.

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 17, 2013 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-historical

I was of older gradeschool age, and after exhausting all the Nancy Drew's my mother's younger sister passed down to me, I went to my parents meager book shelf. I read Exodus, by Leon Uris. The boldface on the book jacket demanding to be read like a hollywood movie demanding to be seen. I had no idea that it already was a movie. From that book forward I was hungry for literature. I tried other books on this parental shelf: this Steinbeck (Winter of our Discontent)--I liked but could not say why;...more I was of older gradeschool age, and after exhausting all the Nancy Drew's my mother's younger sister passed down to me, I went to my parents meager book shelf. I read Exodus, by Leon Uris. The boldface on the book jacket demanding to be read like a hollywood movie demanding to be seen. I had no idea that it already was a movie. From that book forward I was hungry for literature. I tried other books on this parental shelf: this Steinbeck (Winter of our Discontent)--I liked but could not say why; Dale Carnegie--false; Victoria Holt--fake drama; Day of the Jackal--almost, gets the tension; Michener--almost,has drama. Then the 3 shelves had been read.

Fortunately, our township had become a city in the intervening years and built a library (1972) less than a half-mile from my house. Unfortunately, the librarians kept escorting me from the adult section to the kid section of which they were so proud. Doubly unfortunately, being an obedient child (my downfall in multiple areas of life) I obeyed. I read little in middle school, because nothing caught my interest.

Fortunately, in high school I had teacher who liked to irritate and shake the ground beneath his students. He threw us into Heart of Darkness, by Conrad laughing under his breath. I took every english class I could with wicked-humored Dane. When he despised my pollyanna-ish, he gave me My Last Duchess, by Browning in a poetry class of the great classic English Poets. In this class we read Pope and lots of Pope. Our final exam were these poems he assigned like medicine to cure a weakness he saw in each of us. We needed to memorize it, analyze it, and defend our presentation of it. Going into this exam, I finally had an "A" in one of his classes--until he asked "Why was she wearing a ribbon about her neck?" Well, I could not bring into my consciousness that malevolent shadow following me whenever I was inside this poem. Pollyanna-ish won and I got a "C".

Fortunately, I was of an age I was no longer escorted out of the adult section in the library, so I read more dead poets and more dead novelists so I could scale this danish wall in the classroom that divided the worthy and unworthy. This Dane often mocked all underclassmen, asserting that we did not have enough life lived to write anything worthy, much less have anything meaningful to say about great literature.

Yes, that may have been true, but it was in literature I found a reflection and a source of light to kindle my own. I am glad to have discovered since that time that an author does not have to be dead to have written something great.

Bsck then--and I am thankful today, that the mystery and magnetism this teacher created around literature was a party I crashed. I read Don Quioxte, because Mr. Rasmussen's idea of school musical was Man of La Mancha. He was banned from doing musicals and plays thereafter. Too bad parents have so little faith and administrators so little courage, Mr. Rasmussen might have shaken the ground beneath our feet, but the opened earth revealed a bigger world we could go forth and master.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Mar 31, 2010 Zeek rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, classics-modern, fiction, hist-fiction, literary

While overall I liked the book, still, some niggling thoughts ate at the corner of my mind as I made my way through Exodus.

Whereas this book is fiction, for some reason, I came to this thinking that what Uris put down is very close to fact. What worried me as I read it, is that it isn't. Why? Every Jew good, every Arab bad. (As well as the British who colonized Palestine at the time of Israel's independence.) That's too cut and dry for me. In every conflict there is a right and wrong, this I bel...more

6 likes · like · see review

May 29, 2013 Carole Roman rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction

Everything you wanted to know about being Jewish but didn't know what to ask... Great book that describes how diverse Jewish heritage is. Uris describes Jews from all walks of life, from Zionists, to the religious sects of Hasidim. American Jews, the birth of Israel,persecution in Russia, the horrors of the Holocaust are all interwoven into a beautiful story of the struggle for statehood. Is it slanted- probably. Does it matter? No, because I think to understand history you have realize that eve...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 05, 2008 Heather rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this is college and really liked it. I wasn't aware how one sided it was (very pro-zionist) until I was talking about it with a friend of mine who was studying Israeli/Palestinian history. While reading I assumed this was historical fiction, meaning the characters might not be real, but the events in the story were true and presented objectively. Well, it needs to be read carefully, with the understanding that the writer had a very strong point of view in favor of the Jews. My friend reco...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jun 08, 2011 Susie added it Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: adventure, classics-adult, drama, favourites-mine, fiction-novel, historical, romance

I read this when I was a young teenage girl. There are no other words to say about this book than it was compelling. I was born only years after this conflict between the Israelis and British and Palistine. I grew up knowing how hard Isreal was working to gain their full autonomy and watched as they went through the 6 day war. To have read this book and many others about the Holocost and put the Jews struggle into perspective and why they needed their own land. I absolutely loved the book for th...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 01, 2008 Kris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Kris by: my Mom, years ago

This is a novel set around the time of the creation of the state of Israel. The author creates a lot of back-stories for the characters that recount the struggles, prejudice, and genocide of Jewish people throughout history. The historical part of the book is very interesing, and the fictional story is kind of a grand, sweeping epic that takes place over several years. I LOVED the book when I first read it at least 10, maybe even 15, years ago, when I guess I was a bit of a starry-eyed romantic,...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 08, 2011 Nandakishore Varma rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

Even though I was caught up in the book when I first read it, I had to leave it halfway through... and when I went back to it some years later, after learning more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (not the American-Israeli fiction, but real history), I felt I couldn't read it, it was so nauseating. Now I work in the Middle East, and see the conflict more close at hand. I could talk with many displaced Palestinians, and hear their side of the story. And the aversion to the book has increase...more

10 likes · like · see review

Apr 23, 2010 Nanette rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

What an incredible story. I really think I learned more about the creation of Israel by reading this book than I did in a whole year of world history in school. This book follows the treatment of Jews from hundreds of years before the Holocaust through the creation of Israel. It is amazing how many thing discussed in this book are occurring today! I feel like the author approached the whole issue very evenhandedly. Despite being rich in history, the book has an amazing plot line that makes the b...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 06, 2008 Jordana rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book a long time ago, but still remember vividly the personal struggles and stories told by Leon Uris in this historical fiction.

I have always felt a personal connection to this book because my mom got my name, Jordana, after the sister of the main character, Ari Ben Cannan, a leader of the Israeli freedom fighters, helping the Jewish people of his time have freedom and peace and a state all their own.

The book's name is based on the name of the 1947 immigration ship Exodus, which has...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 03, 2008 Mason Wiebe rated it 5 of 5 stars

Tells the story of the beginning of the State of Israel with lots of interesting historical facts. Although it is full of true history this book is a work of fiction as it follows many different Zionists through their work as soldiers, farmers, diplomats and Jews. They work in concentration camps, displaced prisoners camps that aren’t much better, kibbutzes, hospitals, battlefields, ghettos and farms. They paid much too much for land in Palistine that the Arabs didn’t want and transformed it fro...more

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 11, 2008 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Recommended to Mike by: Adam

It is not so often that a book stirs up so many emotions as Exodus. Exodus is an American masterpiece, a story woven with intricate threads creating a thought provoking story of tragedy and triumph. It tells the story of the establishment of Israel, and the atrocities that occured at the time. Despite moving slowly at the beggining, it quickly picks up and is a visceral thrillride. As battles are thought and the conditions grow bleaker for the protagonist, the more the reader feels involved with...more

5 likes · like · see review

Apr 17, 2008 Bap rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This book is wildly pro Zionist and Isreal and was instrumental in convincing a generation of American baby boomers that the jews were heroic pioneers who journeyed from war torn Europe and the the holocaust to Palestine fulfilling their destiny by creating a homeland away from the anti-semiticsm of Europe and making the desert bloom. No wonder that when they made a movie they cast Paul Newman in the lead. It wasn't till much later that we realized that it was not so simple and the equities were...more

4 likes · like · see review

Sep 02, 2012 Max Newman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Exodus is a very good book to read. Exodus tells the story of the Jews as they return to the land of Palestine in 1947 ( their rightful Jewish homeland as mentioned in the Torah). Jews return to the land of Palestine to claim what is rightfully theirs, the land of Israel. Exodus tells the story of how Ari Ben Canaan executes a plan to bring Holocaust survivors and displaced Jewish refugees in Cyprus to Palestine in 1947. Ari is joined mainly by Jordana, David Ben Ami, Katherine Fremont, Barak Be...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 19, 2011 A.U.C. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011

If I were to judge this book fairly, as a fair critic, I would probably give this book no more than three stars. If I were to put all my fairness aside and give way to my passions, I would give this book five stars, for it made me sob as no book has ever done, it made me laugh, and my heart still aches over its ending.

What do I find wrong about this book? Let's just say it's the (in the modern world) historical and political version of a novella, with all the elements included; the deaths, the...more

like · see review

Aug 19, 2011 Judy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, books-from-1959, 20th-century-fiction

The #1 bestseller of 1959 was this long book about the history of the Zionist movement and the founding of modern day Israel. I have previously read The Hope, Herman Wouk's novel, which takes up the story in 1958 soon after Exodus ends, and carries it through the Six Day War of 1967. Wouk provides the reader with the 1950s American government's views on the conflict. I have also read A Tale of Love and Darkness, in which Amos Oz gives his account of growing up in Jerusalem in the 40s and 50s.

The...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 30, 2011 Sam Norton added it

A very very entertaining book. Like the "Da Vinci Code" or "Angels and Demons" but deeper and clearly more thoroughly researched.

The back stories of Dov and the Ben Canaans provides a key to understanding the current Israeli fixation on security above all other matters. One couldn't help but to err on the side of realism having gone through what these people went through. Nevertheless, it doesn't justify the behavior in which the Israeli government has been involved in the past few decades.

Furth...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 05, 2011 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature

There is some debate on whether or not Exodus was commissioned by American Jewish political groups to sway American sympathy towards the Israeli cause. Regardless of whether or not it was commissioned, that is how a lot of this book reads. There are some attempts, mostly cursory, to provide an Arab point of view, but these are flat and back-handed. However, this book is compelling. It made me want to see Israel and I emphatically stated that I had no wish to ever visit the Middle East not two mo...more There is some debate on whether or not Exodus was commissioned by American Jewish political groups to sway American sympathy towards the Israeli cause. Regardless of whether or not it was commissioned, that is how a lot of this book reads. There are some attempts, mostly cursory, to provide an Arab point of view, but these are flat and back-handed. However, this book is compelling. It made me want to see Israel and I emphatically stated that I had no wish to ever visit the Middle East not two months ago.

As a novel, it is compared to the film Birth of a Nation and the novel, Gone with the Wind. I've seen neither nor read Gone with the Wind, but they seem to be sweeping, quasi-romantic works and that is what Exodus is, as well. I was definitely caught up in it and I read it cover to cover in three days. The plot is based on pseudo-historic events, and therefore should maintain a level of plausibility. In the action and political sequences, it works. The romance sections, I'm very much torn. There is a great degree of insight given into the psychological motivations of the characters. There is heartbreak and a distinct lack of happy endings, which seems realistic given the world that the characters live in throughout the novel. However, greater care could have been taken with motivations, particularly with the character of Kitty Fremont. Just a little more time spent on what motivates her to follow Karen to Israel would have gone a very long way.

The other detraction of the book is that it is actually three very distinct stories and although I hate to say this, would have benefited from being split into a trilogy. Although I hate trilogies because they often seem to be created for no other reason than the Lord of the Rings was a trilogy. This book has three compelling sections that could have done with a little more care and time taken with each. The first part of the book is actually Exodus. It is about a ship named Exodus and the political machinations taken to get Jewish refugees into Palestine. The rest of the book never mentions Exodus again. The second part is about the creation of the Jewish state and the struggle of Palestinian Jews to gain independence from the British Mandate. This is a great story in and of itself and could have been its own book. The last part is the Arab-Israeli Civil War. The problem here is that this should have been a great story, but it was short changed. It could have been a separate work given its own breathing room.

All in all, its a compelling read. I would definitely caution against the obvious Israeli bias. As someone converting to Judaism, my sympathies and feelings are what they are, but as an amateur historian, I would just emphasize this is a work of fiction and is not even trying to portray an objective truth on the formation of Israel. Okay, that might not be true...I think it is trying to an extent, but it fails on that regard. As a compelling and interesting read, though, I do recommend this book.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Oct 25, 2010 Mark Stephenson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Some of the history recounted in this famous novel was familiar from my having read Herzman's excellent biography of David Ben-Gurion. The valiant efforts to reclaim wastelands for agriculture and other productive uses engaged my deep sympathies as a descendent of Mormon pioneers - who, however, never had to deal with imams and muftis - only with Indians, bureaucrats, Congress and, for a few years, the U.S. Army.The fact that the Jewish Zionists had but few leaders who could compare with Brigham...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Writing History I can't Forget: Leon Uris	4	17	Jun 17, 2013 06:05am

combine
Other Editions (43)

More editions...

Genres

Historical Fiction

487 users

Classics

73 users

Literature > Jewish

36 users

Cultural > Israel

35 users

Novels

33 users

War

29 users

Literature

24 users

World War II > Holocaust

20 users

Adult Fiction

17 users

Religion > Judaism

17 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

The Source
by James A. Michener
The Winds of War
by Herman Wouk
Tai-Pan
by James Clavell
Captains and the Kings
by Taylor Caldwell
The Far Pavilions
by M.M. Kaye

About Leon Uris

Leon Marcus Uris (August 3, 1924 - June 21, 2003) was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.

Leon Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Jewish-American parents Wolf William and Anna (Blumberg) Uris. His father, a Polish-born immigrant, was a pa...more Leon Marcus Uris (August 3, 1924 - June 21, 2003) was an American novelist, known for his historical fiction and the deep research that went into his novels. His two bestselling books were Exodus, published in 1958, and Trinity, in 1976.

Leon Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Jewish-American parents Wolf William and Anna (Blumberg) Uris. His father, a Polish-born immigrant, was a paperhanger, then a storekeeper. William spent a year in Palestine after World War I before entering the United States. He derived his surname from Yerushalmi, meaning "man of Jerusalem." (His brother Aron, Leon Uris' uncle, took the name Yerushalmi) "He was basically a failure," Uris later said of his father. "He went from failure to failure."

Uris attended schools in Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, but never graduated from high school, after having failed English three times. At age seventeen, while in his senior year of high school, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Uris enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He served in the South Pacific as a radioman (in combat) at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and New Zealand from 1942 through 1945. While recuperating from malaria in San Francisco, he met Betty Beck, a Marine sergeant; they married in 1945.

Coming out of the service, he worked for a newspaper, writing in his spare time. In 1950, Esquire magazine bought an article, and he began to devote himself to writing more seriously. Drawing on his experiences in Guadalcanal and Tarawa he produced the best-selling, Battle Cry, a novel depicting the toughness and courage of U.S. Marines in the Pacific. He then went to Warner Brothers in Hollywood helping to write the movie, which was extremely popular with the public, if not the critics. Later he went on to write The Angry Hills, a novel set in war-time Greece.

According to one source, in the early 1950's he was hired by an American public relations firm to go to Israel and "soak up the atmosphere and create a novel about it". That novel would be Exodus, which came out in 1958 and became his best known work. Others say that Uris, motivated by an intense interest in Israel, financed his own research for the novel by selling the film rights in advance to MGM and writing articles about the Sinai campaign. It is said that the book involved two years of research, and involved thousands of interviews. Exodus illustrated the history of Palestine from the late 19th century through the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. It was a worldwide best-seller, translated into a dozen languages, and was made into a feature film in 1960, starring Paul Newman, directed by Otto Preminger, as well as into a short-lived Broadway musical (12 previews, 19 performances) in 1971. Uris' novel Topaz was adapted for the screen and directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Uris' subsequent works included: Mila 18, a story of the Warsaw ghetto uprising; Armageddon: A Novel of Berlin, which reveals the detailed work by British and American intelligence services in planning for the occupation and pacification of post WWII Germany; Trinity, an epic novel about Ireland's struggle for independence; QB VII, a novel about the role of a Polish doctor in a German concentration camp ; and The Haj, with insights into the history of the Middle East and the secret machinations of foreigners which have led to today's turmoil.

He also wrote the screenplays for Battle Cry and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Uris was married three times: to Betty Beck, with whom he had three children, from 1945 through their divorce in 1968; Margery Edwards in 1969, who died a year later, and Jill Peabody in 1970, with whom he had two children, and divorced in 1989.

Leon Uris died of renal failure at his Long Island home on Shelter Island, aged 78.

Leon Uris's papers can be found at the Ransom Center, University of Texas in Austin. The collection includes all of Uris's novels, with the exception of The Haj and Mitla Pass, as well as manus(less)

More about Leon Uris...

Books by Leon Uris

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Exodus

11 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Exodus

“Anything to declare? the customs inspector said."Two pound of uncut heroin and a manual of pornographic art," Mark answered, looking about for Kity. All Americans are comedians, the inspector thought, as he passed Parker through. A government tourist hostess approached him."Are you Mr. Mark Parker?""Guilty.” — 7 people liked it

“Like so many creative men of his school he was hounded by an incessant restlessness.” — 4 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Exodus
avg rating	preview: Exodus Goodreads rating: 4.28 (38119 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42697.Exodus?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1359742531l/42697.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42697.Exodus?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Exodus by Leon Uris[/url]

Exodus

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website