The Hope is a historical novel by Herman Wouk about pivotal events in the history of the State of Israel from 1948 to 1967. Herman Wouk ( "woke" born May 27, 1915) is a bestselling American Author with a number of notable Novels to his For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1967 ( MCMLXVII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. These include Israel's War of Independence, the 1956 Sinai War (known in Israel as "Operation Kadesh"), and the Six-Day War. The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, (أزمة السويس - العدوان الثلاثي Crise du canal de Suez מבצע קדש Kadesh Background Suez Crisis aftermath The Suez Crisis of 1956 represented a military defeat but a political victory for Egypt The narrative is continued in the sequel The Glory. The Glory (1994 is the sequel to The Hope written by American author Herman Wouk.

Plot summary

These crucial events are mainly seen through the eyes of two fictional characters, who meet near the beginning of the novel: Zev Barak and Joseph Blumenthal. Joseph Blumenthal is one of the main characters in the novel The Hope by Herman Wouk. We also meet several of the most important real-life heroes of Israel: David Ben Gurion, Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Mickey Marcus, Yigael Yadin, Motta Gur, and others. Moshe Dayan, DSO (משה דיין born 20 May 1915 died 16 October 1981 was an Israeli military leader and politician Golda Meir ( גּוֹלְדָּה מֵאִיר جولدا مائير born Golda Mabovitch, 3 May 1898 - 8 December 1978 known as Golda Myerson from 1917-1956 David Daniel Marcus ( 22 February 1901 &ndash 10 June 1948) commonly known as Mickey Marcus, was an American United Yigael Yadin (יגאל ידין born Yigal Sukenik (Hebrew יגאל סוקניק on 21 March 1917, died 28 June 1984) was Lt Gen Mordechai "Motta" Gur (מרדכי "מוטה" גור born 6 May 1930, died 16 July 1995) was an Israeli All these people, both the real ones and the fictional ones, are portrayed as brave and decent human beings with comical character flaws, who somehow managed to lead Israel through three major wars in spite of the nation being surrounded, outgunned, and torn by internal conflicts as well as external threats. During the War of Independence, Israel had no air force, no tanks, no large artillery, not even decent rifles. Yet they had to fight off an invasion by five armies that were well-supplied with all those weapons. In the 1956 war, Israel had to fight to free itself from constant terrorist attacks and economic strangulation, with the bumbling and inconsistent help of Britain and France, and against the fierce hostility of both the USA and the Soviet Union. Just before the Six-Day War, it was believed by the Arabs, many Israelis, and most of the world, that the extermination of Israel by its enemies was imminent.

Zev Barak loves two women: his wife Nakhama, a placid but strong woman of Moroccan Jewish descent, and his mistress Emily Cunningham, a charming American shiksa. Shiksa ( Yiddish: yi שיקסע or shikse, is a Yiddish word that has moved into English usage mostly in North Joseph Blumenthal is also torn between two women: Shayna Matisdorf, his true love, and Yael Luria, whom he marries.

References

• The Hope (1993) by Herman Wouk, ISBN 0316955191