Nahum Goldmann: Statesman Without a State

Explores the life and career of one of the twentieth century’s most colorful Zionist leaders.

The life, career, and legacy of Nahum Goldmann (1895–1982), one of the most colorful and important Zionist leaders of the twentieth century, are fully revealed in this illuminating collection of essays. American, Israeli, and European scholars speak to the many sides of Goldmann, including his upbringing, rise in the international public arena as a premier advocate for Jewish life and the Zionist enterprise, and his role as an elder statesman in the 1960s and 1970s. Often ahead of his time, Goldmann proved highly influential at several critical historical junctures—on the eve of the creation of the Jewish state, he played a key role articulating Israel’s relationship with diaspora Jewry, postwar Germany, and the Arab world. This volume captures Goldmann in all his complexity, while making this important figure and his time accessible to researchers, students, and interested readers.

“…this long-overdue book on Goldmann fills a gap in Zionist historiography … It adds an excellent contribution to the growing literature on the relationship of American Jewry and Jews in other parts of the Diaspora to the state of Israel.” — H-Net Review