Yes, this is unoriginal and some may even call it boring AND reading groups are a great way to lean into curiosity with friends and people you feel comfortable with.
While Michiana Voices is not currently facilitating a book club or reading group, we encourage you to find a small group of folks you feel safe with, pick out a book, set up a time to meet and build the connection within your group and across the world. We can help get you started with some book suggestions and questions to ponder.
The following books are organized into three groups:
- Group one provides great introductions into the Middle East for those who find themselves wanting to learn more but are not sure where to start.
- The second group expands upon a foundational knowledge of geography and history, as well as speaks to the connection between Zionism and Israel.
- Lastly, as you become more familiar with the perspectives and history of historic Palestine, there is a whole slew of more academic and detail filled books.
1. Where Do I Even Start?
If you are just beginning to learn about Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East, welcome! These books are a good place to start.
“A handbook to understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a narrative that captures its essence through tracing the connected lives of two extraordinary individuals. Literally the single work I’d recommend to anyone seeking to understand why the conflict remains unresolved, and why it continues to dominate the region.”
– Tony Karon, Editor, TIME
“Far from being peacemakers, many Christians contribute to a polarized conversation that actually fuels the conflict. Father Chacour calls us beyond that. . . . Two thousand years after Jesus walked the Galilean hills, [Chacour] and others like him still wrestle–by deep necessity–with what it means to love our enemies and be peacemakers in a broken world. Entrusted with a seemingly impossible calling, Chacour chooses to follow Jesus every step of the way, and invites us to join him.”
– from the foreword by Gabe Lyons and Lynne Hybels
2. I Want to Dive a Bit Deeper…
If you know a little about the history of Israel and Palestine and are wanting to learn more, this book is a great resource to hear more of the personal experience of someone from the Middle East. Zionism, and its connection to Israel, is also introduced.
“Avi Shlaim’s intriguing, ideologically-driven book, Three Worlds, is a bitter-sweet autobiography of an accomplished Iraqi Jew who left his homeland under duress, an impassioned look back at Iraq’s lost Jewish community, and a stinging critique of Zionism and Israel.”
– Times of Israel
3. I Feel Well Versed & Ready to Expand My Knowledge Further!
Feel like you have a firm understanding of the Middle East and Palestine and would like to learn more of the details from the perspective of Palestinians and Israelis? These are just two of the many informative and insightful books you could start with.
“A riveting and original work, the first to explore the century of war against the Palestinians on the basis of deep immersion in their struggle―a work enriched by solid scholarship, vivid personal experience, and acute appreciation of the concerns and aspirations of the contending parties in this deeply unequal conflict.”
– Noam Chomsky, author of Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy
“A major intervention in an argument that will, and must, continue. There’s no hope of lasting Middle East peace while the ghosts of 1948 still walk.”
– Independent
Disclaimer: There is a wealth of resources, texts, literature, memoirs, essays, letters and books on and around Palestine. The titles we have chosen for this page are no better or worse than any others out there. They are simply places to start.