Todd’s Reviews > A History of Zionism > Status Update

The Herzl chapter (1880s-1907) abounds in historical detail, but raises many questions, e.g., Why was no one thinking of the inhabitants of any of the lands they were considering colonizing? Pogroms, mass suffering (and I do mean mass), and antisemitism answer "why Zionism" in general, but Laqueur barely touches on the details of the many competing threads of Zionisms, focusing only on the central political line.

Through Ch. 2 which brings you up to Herzl. Really thorough and fascinating history of the background and context of the development of political zionism. He's an old school european historian, however; I much prefer the more recent trends in American historiography to write around themes and arguments rather than encyclopedic recountings. But structure aside, so far so good.