Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel

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

Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel

by Marv Wolfman, Mario Ruiz, William J. Rubin

3.27 of 5 stars 3.27 · rating details · 11 ratings · 3 reviews

Gold Medal Non-fiction Young Adult Moonbeam Book Award winner

Depicting the history of Israel from biblical Abraham to the present, this sophisticated, four-color graphic adaptation is academically grounded, guiding readers through highlights both in historical detail and from Israel's world view. History, religion, politics, and the current Middle East situation are all gi...more

Paperback, 128 pages

Published April 1st 2007 by Nachshon Press LLC (first published 2007)

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

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-19 of 19)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jun 01, 2011 Ebookwormy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: currenteventspolitics, graphicnovel, history, history-twentieth-century, israeljudaism, world-middleeast

This book is a valuable, concise summary of Jewish Israeli history. Using the format of a professor and class, the book early on acknowledges it's bias and that it will speak from an Israeli perspective. There are a few cheezy parts in the interaction between the professor and the class that seem either a bit forced or too elaborately done.

The information was good, broad stroke, big picture. This isn't a reference book that you will turn to to understand, say, the 6 Day War. Rather, it is an ov...more This book is a valuable, concise summary of Jewish Israeli history. Using the format of a professor and class, the book early on acknowledges it's bias and that it will speak from an Israeli perspective. There are a few cheezy parts in the interaction between the professor and the class that seem either a bit forced or too elaborately done.

The information was good, broad stroke, big picture. This isn't a reference book that you will turn to to understand, say, the 6 Day War. Rather, it is an overview of the thousand year history of the Jewish people, so you might pick it up to see where the 6 Day War fits in the flow. Though it is nuanced in minimizing Israel's faults and maximizing the aggression of it's enemies, one cannot help but acknowledge (both here and in other works on the topic) that enemy attempts at peace are questionable when the enemy continues to advocate for Israel's annihilation, and hasn't made any progress on agreed peace deals.

Early mentions of the Midrash and Talmud were helpful in positioning those works, though they might be confusing to younger readers unfamiliar with Jewish tradition (particularly it's ability to comfortably argue both sides). Also, for some reason there seems to be an attempt to really highlight women: the midwives in Egypt, Miriam and the only Judge mentioned, Deborah. It jumped out as strange, especially considering that Judaism and Christianity both show much more respect to woman than the surrounding cultures. But these things not withstanding, it was the text that drove me on to finish this book in one sitting. I think the authors managed to capture a complex storyline in a fairly concise manner.

The thing that is a little odd about this book is the art. It's kind of a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it does draw you in and many spreads are well done. On the other hand, I often found it rather distracting. First of all, apparently a hot, glamorous professor in red is representative of those coming from an Israeli position. I found the graphics on the professor very weird. I found myself wondering if she was going to turn into an updated Wonder Woman (updated because she was so obviously sporting a Jennifer Aniston cut) by the end of the book. Secondly, early on, I thought the art a bit dramatic and even frightening. Sculls, swastikas, and people we haven't met yet appear in a fire where Abraham talks with God. Jacob appears to wrestle with a demon, and over Pharaoh's shoulder toddlers are tossed into the air against a background of pyramids and the Nile. The plagues feature a lot of fire and water, and a man holding what appears to be a dead child before a demonic altar (whether he is sacrificing the child or presenting the child after he has been killed in the passover is unclear). After that, things calm down a bit, but while the introduction states this book can be used with children, I found these vivid graphics troubling.

Thirdly, some of the historical figures are labeled and some are not. It seems the labels are more prevalent in recent history. Perhaps because we know for sure what these people looked like? As an aside, I've never seen Alexander the Great illustrated anything like this book, blonde, really? Fourth, we don't see a photo of Yassir Arafat until 11 pages after he is first mentioned, and when he does show up, he is on a page about Hezbollah? Finally, I thought there was a series of red pages about wars and terrorism that became rather tedious to the eye and mind. Even flipping through the book for this review there is a lot of red and black, fire and destruction. It's not that these images are completely disconnected from the storyline, it's just that they seem to become oppressive in such quantities.

Ultimately, I think the problem with the art is that it's too much going for cool, and violent, comic book. I think that doesn't serve the excellent text, and it cost a star in my evaluation. It's unfortunate, because the writing was good and it would have made an excellent homeschool resource if it didn't have to be censored for more sensitive children. 3 stars.
(less)

like · see review

Dec 06, 2010 Tori rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, mideast-arabic-islam, graphic-novel

Strange. Very Zionist. The style of the art is a little silly for the subject matter.

like · see review

Jun 13, 2013 John Barbour rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, foreign-policy

This is a good introductory book to help one understand the complex history of the modern state of Israel. It introduces all the main characters and conflicts.

like · see review

May 06, 2013 Man Solo marked it as to-read

Feb 24, 2013 Crystal Bryant marked it as unknown

Shelves: storage-box-10, own, storage

Dec 13, 2012 Hannah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Nov 22, 2012 Daniel A. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jul 15, 2012 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, judaism, israel, children-young-adult

May 11, 2012 Clanton added it

Apr 04, 2012 Stephanie Corbett rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dec 12, 2011 Kate Farrell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: israel, jewish, graphic-books, political

Sep 05, 2011 Nathan Fox added it

Feb 28, 2011 Dani rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-1-winter, jewish, non-fiction

Feb 04, 2011 Cory Miron rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphic-novels

Jan 17, 2011 Bobbssw added it

Dec 02, 2008 Steven Bergson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: acknowledged-in, israel-and-comics

Aug 18, 2008 David marked it as to-read

Shelves: history, graphic-novels, non-fiction

May 29, 2008 J-weng J-weng added it

Apr 11, 2008 The Jewish Book Council added it

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (2)

Genres

History

4 users

Non Fiction

3 users

Cultural > Israel

2 users

Literature > Jewish

2 users

Sequential Art > Graphic Novels

2 users

See top shelves...

About Marv Wolfman

Marvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.

More about Marv Wolfman...

Books by Marv Wolfman

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Homeland: The Ill...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel
avg rating	preview: Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel Goodreads rating: 3.27 (11 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/448079.Homeland?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328861924l/448079.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/448079.Homeland?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel by Marv Wolfman[/url]

Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combineOther Editions (2)

Genres

About Marv Wolfman

Books by Marv Wolfman

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About Homeland: The Ill...

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (2)