David Ben-Gurion

School Library Journal

Gr 7-12 Silverstein's biography of the Israeli visionary and prime ministerthe only one in print for this age groupis adequate for school projects and assignments, but has little other merit. It is an almost tediously detailed review of Ben-Gurion's 87-year life from birth to death. The book is awkwardly written, suffering from choppiness, repetition, and poor organization; although Silverstein has amassed much information, she seems to have had difficulty in prioritizing it and deleting that which was less important, and in fully integrating her data into a cohesive, unified whole. Consequently, David Ben-Gurion fails to captivate or inspire; it has no ``life,'' and no real sense of Ben-Gurion's complex character and personality shines through. The book does not have any maps, a glossary, or a pronunciation guide for the many Hebrew terms, not all of which are defined in context. Ann W. Moore, formerly at Lane Road Library, Columbus