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A Place in History: Modernism, Tel Aviv, and the Creation of Jewish Urban Space (Stanford Studies in Jewish History and C) | 
 enlarge | Author: Barbara E. Mann
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 576433
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.9
ISBN: 080475019X
Dewey Decimal Number: 307.760956948
EAN: 9780804750196
ASIN: 080475019X
Publication Date: April 10, 2006
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Product Description
A Place in History is a cultural study of Tel Aviv, Israel's population center, established in 1909. It describes how a largely European Jewish immigrant society attempted to forge a home in the Mediterranean, and explores the role of memory and diaspora in the creation of a new national culture. Each chapter is devoted to a particular place in the city that has been central to its history, and includes literary, artistic, journalistic, and photographic material relating to that site.
This is the first book-length study of Tel Aviv in English. It will appeal to readers interested in urban cultures, the contemporary Middle East, modern Jewish history, and Israeli literature. It also contributes to the ongoing public debate about memory, memorials and urban identity.
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| Customer Reviews:
 More Matter, Less Art June 2, 2008
Mann's A Place in History is a study of the founding and development of Tel Aviv, and she handles this from a variety of angles. But Mann is first and foremost an historian with a decided post-modern orientation, so this study is replete with words like "text" "trope" and "problematized." The net result of this is a work that is far too intellectual and clouds the extremely fascinating story of the founding of the first Jewish, or more correctly, Hebrew city. That said, Mann has access to some wonderful sources, interesting historical photographs, and is well versed in the art and architecture Tel Aviv has generated in it's over 100 years of existence. When she allows the city of tell its story, the book is compelling and important. When she gets bogged down in theory and terms, there is a strong pull to stop reading this book.
 Profound and beautiful July 31, 2006
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Viewed from afar, Jerusalem is the city that best captures the spirit of modern Israel. But as Barbara Mann shows in this profound and beautiful book, it is in Tel Aviv - the first modern Jewish city -- that the complexities of the Zionist project are most evident. Mann describes these complexities in both broad strokes (as when she presents the long ambivalent history of Jewish attitudes towards space and place) and fine detail (as when she describes the old cemetery in the middle of Tel Aviv, and how its meaning has changed over the generations). Mann is a Berkeley-trained literature professor, so she's conversant in the sorts of contemporary theory that one encounters at universities. She carries her erudition lightly, though, using the tools of cultural studies and literary theory to explain what she sees, without getting carried into the jargony hermeticism that makes much academic writing insufferable and impenetrable. This could be because Mann is also an accomplished poet. Time and again she finds a perfect, small example that illustrate her big points, and these images stick with you after you've closed the book. She writes simply and beautifully, with pathos and with power.
I recommend this book for anyone who wants a deeper view of Israel than it is possible to get from the evening news. Also for anyone interested in modern Jewish history and modern Jewish identity. For people who might find themselves drinking coffee at a kiosk on Rothschild or a café on Dizengoff on a Friday morning (I am one of these people), this book is a gem and a gift and a must.
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