BURG, Avraham << back to list Avrum Burg is a former Peace Now movement activist, and has been advisor to Shimon Peres, a member and the Speaker of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and is former chairman of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization. (photo © Eyal Warshavsky/BauBau) Web site http://www.roycecarlton.com/speaker/Avraham-Burg/ Bibliography & Foreign sales GOD IS BACK (Non fiction) With a distinguished history of public service as Speaker of Israel’s parliament, and as former chairman of the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization, Avrum Burg, himself an observant Jew, is uniquely placed to assess the role of God in present-day Israel. As Israel is undergoing a painful process of reexamining its fundamental raisons d’être, it is confronting core issues of identity and image, both internally and on the world stage. In GOD IS BACK, Burg calls for a radical reappraisal of the nature of Israel, its morality and pragmatism, the role of rabbis in society, issues of gender, the rule of law, Zionism, racism, settlers and the occupied territories, and messianism. Burg paints all this in the light of a hoped-for return to basic moral values and beliefs. This hard-hitting book – a best-seller in Hebrew – is sure to rouse debate among Israel’s supporters and its detractors, as well as anyone concerned by recent outbreaks of anti-Semitism across the world. Readers attuned to the conflict in the Middle East and the saga of modern Israel have already begun to consider GOD IS BACK a must-read. Rights sold to: France, Fayard Published: Israel, Yediot Achronot Books, 2006. Complete English translation available. DEFEATING HITLER (Non fiction) A best-seller upon its publication in spring 2007, DEFEATING HITLER is the most controversial book to be published in Israel in years. In this despairing look at the Israeli condition, Burg warns that an increasingly large and ardent sector of Israeli society disdains political democracy. He describes the country in its current state as Holocaust-obsessed, militaristic, xenophobic and vulnerable to an extremist minority. In DEFEATING HITLER, Burg compares Israel and Germany, harshly criticizes Eichmann’s hanging, reflects on Judaism in the age of globalization and remembers his father’s house. Rights sold to: USA, Palgrave Macmillan; France, Fayard; Italy, Neri Pozza; Germany, Campus Verlag; Holland, Ambo/Anthos; Portugal, Tinto da China; Palestinian Authority; MADAR; Israel, Yediot Ahronot Publishers Reviews ”Avrum Burg might not express the need to change in the most effective way, but at least he has the courage to insist on it.” Bernard Avishai, author of The Tragedy of Zionism, in The New Yorker, July 29, 2007