“Impassioned and thoughtful . . . Bellow evokes places, ideas, people . . . on the edge of history, an inch from disaster, yet brimming with argument and words.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Essentially a plea for a greater understanding of the state of Israel by one of its most articulate admirers.” —The Times (London)
“If someone read aloud to you from To Jerusalem and Back without saying what it was, you could end up supposing that whole segments of the book . . . were a report on today’s news. . . . Certain passages . . . are imprinted on my brain, such that, whenever I have found myself in Jerusalem, the vistas before my eyes turn out to be Bellow’s.” —Paul Berman, Tablet
“An uncannily accurate take on Israel, the United States, and the enemies of the West . . . Almost half a century on, Bellow still reads like a man with his finger on the pulse of the UN, the International Criminal Court, France, and the United States. . . . His thoughts on the Middle East situation are as searching, as powerful, as fluent, and as worthwhile as ever. They are the brilliant ruminations of his antihero Herzog, stripped of the neurosis. Bellow climbs into the abyss of the Arab-Israeli conflict, sits with its quandaries, and, impressively, emerges with his cognitive bearing, moral compass, and grace intact.” —City Journal
“To read Saul Bellow’s To Jerusalem and Back a half-century after its publication feels remarkably, almost disconcertingly, current. . . . It’s a reminder that while much has happened in the intervening 50 years, little has changed. . . . What gives the book its enduring claim to our attention is its examination of the nature of Jewishness—its soul, purpose, and destiny. . . . Bellow is repeatedly reminded of how Israel is pressed down on every side . . . and all too aware of human nature at its worst. Yet it’s also a country that seems to have a point of contact with the divine, a vista on the transcendent. . . . It’s impossible to understand Israel without making allowances for the holy, good, and true and the enduring Jewish quest for each.” —Bret Stephens, from the Foreword
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