RAN AARONSOHN, Rothschild and Early Jewish Colonization in Palestine, Geographic Perspectives on the Human Past (Lanham, U.K.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000). Pp. 336. $79.00 cloth, $26.95 paper.

Extract

Rothschild and Early Jewish Colonization analyzes the Jewish settlements of late-19th-century Ottoman Palestine within a consideration of colonialism. Focused on the 1880s, the volume examines Zionism using a comparative approach. Employing archival sources, Aaronsohn provides a detailed overview of the administration of the colonies by the Baron Edmond de Rothschild. The volume sets the settlements as an idealist endeavor supported by a patron who did not have explicit exploitative intentions. The discussion of the administration seeks to redefine the significance of Baron Rothschild in Zionism, as well as to bring forward the complexities of the Jewish colonial endeavor in Palestine and its lasting implications for Zionism.