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1993 NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARDS
317
might. As a Jewish novel, it recreates the dramatic tension of
the Jewish people who, always on the brink of national destruc
tion, somehow find the means to assure national continuity. We
are grateful once again for the superb translation of Hillel
Halkin, who has made accessible to English-speaking readers
yet one more masterpiece of Hebrew writing.
HOLOCAUST
T
he
L
eon
J
ol son
A
ward
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution
in Poland,
by Christopher R. Browning (Aaron Asher Books/
HarperCollins)
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution
in Poland,
by Christopher Browning, is not only a work of sound
scholarship, it is a chilling account of how “ordinary men” can
commit monstrous acts. It is a reminder that, given the proper
circumstances — i.e. peer pressure, social setting, political con
ditions — most people are unable or unwilling to think or act
morally if they have to act alone. The book is also a searing
indictment of man’s ability to rationalize his inhumanity.
ISRAEL
T h e M o r r i s
J.
a n d B e t t y K a p lu n A w a r d
Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881-1948 ,
by Anita
Shapira, translated by William Templer (Oxford University
Press)
Anita Shapira’s
Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force,
1881 -1948
sensitively examines how the ethos of the Yishuv in
Palestine evolved from a “defensive” to an “offensive” posture
prior to the establishment of the State of Israel. The first gen
eration of socialist Zionist settler-workers, restrained by a ro
mantic faith in ethics and justice, was succeeded in the 1940’s
by native-born children determined to fight for the indepen
dence of their beloved homeland. This dramatic transformation
in Jewish history, sparked by the Arab Rebellion of 1936-1939
and morally justified by the Holocaust, has been analyzed by
Prof. Shapira with thoroughness, objectivity, and a compelling
style.