The reckoning
the killing of Avraham Stern and the shots that echoed around the world
by Patrick Bishop
On a cold morning in February 1942, with the world plunged in the horrors of World War Two, Avraham Stern hid in an attic in Tel Aviv, a price on his head. He'd been on the run for weeks, his picture blazoned across newspapers all over Palestine. As leader of the Stern Gang, he had committed spectacular and murderous crimes, sparking outcry from both British and Jewish groups. An intellectual poet and mystic, Stern believed himself destined for greatness; the Jewish liberator of British Palestine. Drawn always to the margins - his writings were drenched in images of martyrdom and blood. Assistant Superintendent Geoffrey Morton, a middle-class Londoner who had swopped milk deliveries for the dangers of colonial policing, was the man tasked with stopping Stern. Seemingly so different, in fact the men had much in common - ambition, dedication and conviction in his own righteousness. The incidents of that morning would be endlessly contested but two things were clear; Morton had cornered Stern and, minutes later, shot him dead. The shots Morton fired that day would echo down the remaining years of British rule in Palestine and through the titanic events that shaped the birth of Israel. Based on revelatory research, the private archive of Morton and interviews with witnesses, The Reckoning is the first book to tell the tale of a rebel who terrorized Palstine, the lawman determined to stop him and the creation of a cult of martyrdom that destroyed any hope of compromise between Arab and Jew.
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Subjects
Revisionist Zionists, Politics and government, Israel, Assassination, Jewish, 20th Century, Modern, LohĐame hĐerut Yisraơel, Biography, HISTORY, Loḥame ḥerut Yiśraʼel, HISTORY / Middle East / Israel, HISTORY / Jewish, HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century, Palestine, history, 1917-1948, Zionists, Palestine, politics and government, Political sciencePeople
Abraham Stern (1907-1942)Places
Palestine, Middle EastTimes
1917-1948| Edition | Availability |
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The reckoning: how the killing of one man changed the fate of the Promised Land
2015, Isis
in English
- Large print edition.
1445099748 9781445099743
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The reckoning: the killing of Avraham Stern and the shots that echoed around the world
2014, William Collins
in English
0007506171 9780007506170
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4
The reckoning: death and intrigue in the promised land---a true detective story
2014, Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
in English
- First U.S. edition.
0062267825 9780062267825
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"One of Britain's most renowned military historians revisits a controversial murder: that of Zionist leader Avraham Stern, head of Israel's notorious Stern Gang, in Tel Aviv during WWII. Militant Zionist Avraham Stern believed he was destined to be the Jewish liberator of British Palestine. As the ringleader of the infamous Stern Gang, also known as Lehi, he masterminded a series of high-profile terrorist attacks in pursuit of his dream. On the run from British authorities who'd put a bounty on his head, Stern was hiding in an attic in Tel Aviv when he was killed by Assistant Superintendent Geoffrey Morton, a British colonial policeman assigned to capture him. Morton claimed Stern was trying to escape. But witnesses insisted he was executed in cold blood. His controversial death inspired a cult of martyrdom that gave new life to Lehi, helping to destroy hopes of a detente between the British, the Arabs, and the Jews. The Reckoning is the story of Patrick Bishop's quest to discover the truth. Based on extensive research--including access to Morton's private archive and eyewitness interviews--it recounts this seismic event in full, without bias, placing it within the context of its turbulent time. Bishop's gripping, groundbreaking narrative brings to life two men similar in ambition and dedication, chronicles the events that led to their fatal meeting, and explores how the impact of Stern's death reverberated through the final years of British rule and the birth of Israel"--
"One of Britain's most renowned military historians revisits the death of Zionist leader Avraham Stern--head of Israel's notorious Stern Gang--at the hand of a British policeman during WWII"--
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