Rabin Memoirs, The

Boston: Little, Brown and Company BOOK: Corners, Spine, Boards Bumped; Light Shelf Rub to Boards; Spine Slightly Cocked; Edges Moderately Soiled; Slight Yellowing Due to Age. DUST JACKET: Lightly Creased; Lightly Chipped; Moderate Yellowing Due to Age; In Archival Quality Jacket Cover. DESIGNED BY: Janis Capone. PHOTOGRAPH: Leonard Freed--Magnum. JACKET DESIGN BY: John Renfer. CONTENTS: Photographs follow page 184; Author's Note; 1 Childhood and Soldiering 2 The War of Independence 3 Building a Mighty Army 4 Rabin Waits for Nasser 5 Nasser Waits for Rabin 6 The Six Day War 7 Introduction to Washington 8 New President on the White House 9 Anatomy of a Cease-Fire 10 The Search for a Solution 11 Rounding Out the Picture 12 Israel's New Prime Minister 13 The Interim Agreement with Egypt 14 The Spirit of '76 15 Taking Stock 16 The Risks of Peace; Index. SYNOPSIS: Here is the personal record of the outstanding military and political career of Yitzhak Rabin, the Jerusalem-born Israeli leader who became a major world figure in the thirty years he served the State of Israel. As chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, ambassador to the United States, and prime minister of Israel, Rabin played a dynamic role in the development of the Jewish state. In this candid and timely memoir, Rabin reveals his own part in and interpretation of the most important military and diplomatic events in Israel's tumultuous history and provides vivid, close-up portraits of such major figures in Israeli and American politics as David Gen-Gurion, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Henry Kissinger, and Richard Nixon. Rabin recalls his early years as a commander in the Palmach (the active combat division of the Haganah, the independent Jewish militia) during the British Mandate and provides little-known details of the War of Independence. Rising through the ranks, Rabin became chief of operations of the Israel Defense Forces in 1959, and in 1964 he was appointed chief of staff. Now General Rabin provides a lucid, detailed account of the critical tactical decisions that made him a national hero in the Six Day War. Leaving his military career in 1968 for a much-cherished post as ambassador to the United States, Rabin describes how, during his five years in Washington, he helped to influence and strengthen America's policy toward Israel. The former ambassador's accounts of his relationships with Presidents Johnson and Nixon and Secretaries of State Rogers and Kissinger reveal the drama of diplomacy at the highest levels. Rabin emerges as a man of perseverance and integrity, unwilling to settle for less than a just settlement to the Middle East conflict; he explains Israel's responses to the various pressures, plans, and assurances that came from both the State Department and the White House. Succeeding Golda Meir, Rabin became prime minister of Israel in 1974, and in The Rabin Memoirs the former prime minister describes his participation in Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy, which resulted in the controversial 1975 interim agreement with Egypt--a pact that laid the groundwork for President Sadat's historic trip to Jerusalem. Rabin also details the weighty issues with which he struggled in reaching his decision to authorize the spectacular rescue of the hijacked hostages from Entebbe airport in 1976. The former prime minister and Knesset member does not shrink from revealing the intrigues and conflicts that eventually led to his party's defeat in Israel's 1977 elections, after thirty years in power. In a final chapter, Rabin offers a forthright and shrewd assessment of the historic peace treaty signed by Israel and Egypt in March 1979, and realistically weighs the problems in effecting it that lie ahead for his country, Egypt, and the rest of the Arab world. As a soldier and a statesman, Yitzhak Rabin was intimately involved in the signal events of Israel's first thirty years. His memoirs are an invaluable and lasting contribution to the history of that decisive time.. First Thus 1st Printing. Hard Cover. Good/Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.