"Ben-Gurion, the New Millennium Edition.” (1980. updated 1992, 2003).

This is the official biography of David Ben-Gurion, considered as the best book about Israel’s Old Man.

Drawing on his own close personal relationship and on previously unavailable firsthand sources – including David Ben-Gurion's secret files – Michael Bar-Zohar, Israeli scholar and official Ben-Gurion biographer, has written the definitive biography of Israel's Founding father. Using recently declassified State documents, as well as Ben-Gurion 's own archives, Bar-Zohar illuminates the dramatic struggle of Israel for survival. Ben-Gurion’s private diaries and intimate letters reveal a lonely man who outlived his closest friends, his relationship with his wife and children and the story of the other woman in his life. This compelling work explains one of the most important world figures.

"It can safely be said that no book at once so intimate and so scholarly will appear in the future… the portrait of its subject is masterly."    London Spectator

 

"Ben-Gurion's intimate role in the nation's birth and Israel's struggles into the sixties generate an absorbing dual story of the country and its foremost contributors." Booklist

 

"New insight into the personality of one of Israel's Founding Fathers… the most balanced and comprehensive portrait of the Israeli leader to appear in English." Kirkus Reviews

 

"…a fascinating, informative and unusual book. Dr. Bar-Zohar has dared to write about a revered legend with scholarly objectivity." Houston Post 

      

Ben Gurion's Biography: As an historian, Michael Bar-Zohar is perhaps best known for his official biography of David Ben-Gurion, the founder of the State of Israel. He spent most of the years 1964-1978 writing Ben-Gurion's biography.  This book was published in 14 languages, including Arabic and Chinese. Bar-Zohar wrote a play on Ben-Gurion's youth, and produced records of his speeches.

He conceived the exhibit "Ben-Gurion" which was produced by the Tel-Aviv Museum in 1976 and toured the world. He also wrote the screenplay for a full-length documentary film, "Ben-Gurion remembers."

The principal actor in this film was David Ben-Gurion himself, who told his life story in the company of personal and political friends: Shimon Peres, Ariel Sharon, Golda Meir, Itzhak Rabin, Moshe Dayan, Itzhak Navon, Zalman Shazar, Teddy Kollek, Yigael Yadin, fellow pioneers from his youth and his girlfriend Rachel, with whom he sailed to Jaffa in 1906.