Shlomo Aronson is Visiting Professor at Tel Aviv University and Tel Aviv-Yaffo Academic College, as well as Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His scholarship has focused on Nazi Germany during the Holocaust, Israeli domestic and foreign policy, nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, 'Post-Zionism', and current anti-Zionism. He is the author of a number of books, including Conflict and Bargaining in the Middle East, The Politics and Strategy of Nuclear Weapons in the Middle East, and Hitler, the Allies, and the Jews.

• Introduction; 1. The intellectual origins of Ben-Gurion's Zionism; 2. The Holocaust and its lessons; 3. Ben-Gurion between left and right; 4. Ben-Gurion and the Israel Defense Forces - from its formation to the Suez-Sinai campaign of 1956; 5. From the 1956 war to the 'Lavon Affair'; 6. From 'the Affair' to the Six-Day War; Conclusion: the waning of an age and its leader.

'Aronson creates an illuminating portrait that challenges the recent litany of attacks that have become standard fare in the relentlessly negative discussions of Israel. His sympathetic rehabilitation of Ben-Gurion is also a timely and intricate refutation of its critics.' Jerusalem Post