Amos Elon Books

The Pity of It All is the compelling, moving story of the German-Jewish people from the eighteenth century until the eve of Third Reich, tracing their journey from a persecuted clan of outcasts and peddlers into a dazzling community of writers, philosophers and scientists. From Moses Mendelssohn, who entered Berlin through the gate reserved for Jews and cattle and went on to become one of Europe's greatest men of letters, to Rachel Levin, the famed hostess of glittering salons; from the decadent Weimar and the genius of Einstein to philosopher Hannah Arendt's terrified flight from the Gestap in 1933, this is the untold story of nearly 200 years of astonishing creativity and fragile integration. Evoking a tragically lost work, The Pity of It All is the unique collective biography of a people.

By the middle of 19th century the five Rothschild brothers in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Vienna and Naples controlled the finances of Europe more closely than any family ever had before, and were a byword for the power which great wealth can bring with it.

A portrait of Jerusalem which gives an insight into the kaleidoscopic culture of this magical city. Battle-scarred from 4000 years of violent conflict, the holy city is a sacred symbol of Judaism, Islam and Christianity and its religious wars of today reflect those of the past.

The controversial journalistic analysis of the mentality that fostered the Holocaust, from the author of The Origins of Totalitarianism Sparking a flurry of heated debate, Hannah Arendt’s authoritative and stunning report on the trial of German Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann first appeared as a series of articles in The New Yorker in 1963. This revised edition includes material that came to light after the trial, as well as Arendt’s postscript directly addressing the controversy that arose over her account. A major journalistic triumph by an intellectual of singular influence, Eichmann in Jerusalem is as shocking as it is informative—an unflinching look at one of the most unsettling (and unsettled) issues of the twentieth century.

Israel was built on dreams and strivings, on humanistic principles and hard labour. What was conceived as a country of peace and dignity, however, has emerged as a society of contradictions, ethnic tensions, clashes between the religious and the secular - a society buffeted by extreme changes in both national and international politics. The ideals of the founders have floundered in the reality of wars and violence. In this dramatic, fair-minded portrait of Israel, first published in 1971, Amos Elon places the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East in brilliant historic perspective. In illuminating the political and philosophical background of the State of Israel, he offers rare insight into the rise to power of Menachem Begin and the complications of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, and he shows how Zionism, ironically, led to the development of its bitterest enemy, the Palestinian nationalist movement.

Twice in this century, Germany sparked wars of unprecedented terror and destruction, with the defense of the “Prussian” realm perceived as the villain. Today, few grasp the precise meaning of “Prussia,” either geographically or nationally, yet its connotation evokes images of aggression and militarism. The territory once known as Prussia now constitutes a significant part of Eastern Europe, a region first claimed by the Teutonic Order's Christian knights. For centuries, its landscape has been marred by conflict and division. In the aftermath of World War II, nearly two million German refugees fled as Russian forces advanced, marking one of the largest civilian displacements of the war. With the Berlin Wall a relic and the Soviet Union disintegrating, this region remains in disarray. Modern travelers can finally explore and reflect on what Prussia was and has become. Writers James Charles Roy and Amos Elon, known for their curiosity, delve into this landscape, blending contemporary observations with poignant stories from the German and Prussian past. Their narrative is enriched by interviews and memories, evoking a profound sense of loss and nostalgia for lives filled with both turmoil and joy. The result is a deeper understanding of the fractured lands of today’s Eastern Europe.

In der Biographie "Theodor Herzl - Eine Biographie" untersucht Amos Elon das Leben und Wirken des Gründervaters des modernen Zionismus, Theodor Herzl. Elon bietet einen tiefen Einblick in Herzls persönliches Leben, seine Beziehungen, seine Arbeit als Journalist und Schriftsteller sowie seine politischen Aktivitäten und Träume von einer jüdischen Heimat. Das Buch beleuchtet auch die historischen Ereignisse und Umstände, die Herzl beeinflussten, einschließlich der zunehmenden antisemitischen Stimmung in Europa zur damaligen Zeit. Die Biographie ist sowohl eine gründliche Untersuchung von Herzls Leben als auch eine Reflexion über den Zionismus im Allgemeinen.