Anita Shapira is Professor Emerita in Jewish History at Tel Aviv University as well as the Founder of the Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies. She specializes in the history of Zionism, the Jewish community in Palestine and the state of Israel, with an emphasis on cultural, social and intellectual history. She has published numerous books and articles, among them Berl Katznelson, A Biography of a Socialist Zionist (1984), Land and Power, The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881-1948 (1992), Yigal Allon, Native Son (2008), and Israel – A History (2013). Professor Shapira has received numerous academic and professional awards and fellowships from Israeli and foreign universities, including Yale, Brandeis, City University of New York, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, the Oxford Center for Jewish Studies, Columbia University and others. She was awarded the Israel Prize in Jewish history for 2008.
This video exchange focuses on Professor Shapira’s book, Ben Gurion: Father of Modern Israel (Yale University Press, 2014). Part one, which examines Ben Gurion’s special style of leadership, can be found here. Part two, which examines his ideology and its impact, can be found here.
