Zionism and the Fin de Siècle: Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism from Nordau to Jabotinsky

Rating:
Summary: Promises too much
Review: This book, while occasionally interesting and informative, doesn't live up to its promise of placing Zionism in the context of the Fin de Siecle, that caldron of ideas which ushered in our modern era. At times reading like a narrowly focused historical monograph and at other times reading like a series of esoteric literary reviews, the book uses the nomenclature of a PhD dissertation to produce an ultimately unsatisfying overview of one of the most fascinating, and important, movements of the modern age, Zionism. For those seeking a solid grounding in the intellectual origins of the Zionist movement, there must be a better book.

Rating:
Summary: Obvious and Sneering
Review: Well, of course (a) Nordau, Lillian and Jabotinsky were a product of their time and (b) Jabotinsky wasn't one of the great literary masters of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but so what? I can't quite figure out what the point of the book was. That said, I found the actual historical information very useful, especially the discussion of Nordau's bizzare love affair with a Russian noblewoman. I can't say that this book is required reading for those interested in these Zionist personalities, but it is useful.
P.S. Is it possible to write a scholarly book without sneering at the historical figures you are reviewing? I think it is and it Stanislawski's superciliousness towards the very people about whom he is writing is both grating and unbecoming.