Anonymous Soldiers

In his newest book, Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle for Israel, 1917 – 1947, Bruce Hoffman, the director of the Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, provides a landmark history of the battles that led to the creation of Israel. Based on newly available documents from Britain’s National Archives, Anonymous Soldiers brilliantly re-creates a crucial period in the establishment of Israel, chronicling three decades of growing anti-colonial unrest that culminated in the end of British rule and the U.N. resolution to create two separate states.

This groundbreaking book tells in riveting detail the story of how Britain, in the twilight of empire, struggled and ultimately failed to reconcile competing Arab and Jewish demands. Above all, Hoffman shows how the "anonymous soldiers" of Irgun and Lehi beat the British and set in motion the chain of events that resulted in Israel's creation. It is one of the most detailed and sustained accounts of a terrorist and counterterrorist campaign ever written, and will be the definitive account of the struggle for Israel for years to come.

New America is pleased to welcome Mr. Hoffman for a discussion about his new book and how the details surrounding Israel’s creation can inform its future.

Follow the discussion online using #AnonSoldiers and by following @NatSecNAF.

Copies of the book will be available for sale at the event. 

Participants:

Bruce Hoffman @Hoffman_Bruce
Director, Center for Peace and Security Studies; Director, Security Studies Program Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Senior Fellow, U.S. Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center
Author, Anonymous Soldiers: The Struggle for Israel, 1917 - 1947

Moderator: 

Peter Bergen
Director, International Security Program, New America