What I wanted was what I got -- a well balanced booked that explained the Israeli/Palestinian conflict from the beginning to its current sorry state of affairs. Shavit, a journalist who has lived his whole life in Israel and been active in the peace movement, shares his perceptions along with the those of many people who have been influential in the development of the country. He knows most of the major players on the right and left and lets them speak for themselves in interviews. I, for one, didn't know much about the Zionist political movement which brought secular Jews to Isreal as early as the late 1800's with the goal of setting up a socialist, agrarian community. Now I want to know more. One book on my list is A Peace to End All Peace, which explores the roles played by England, France, Germany and Turkey (then the Ottoman Empire) in the Middle East prior to WWI and beyond.