The Glory

The continuation of the two part series. For some reason - perhaps because they were closer in time I remembered the actual events - this last half seemed to move slower than the "The Hope." Herman Wouk certainly dug deeply into every aspect of history as he provided in depth coverage of the more protracted war in the Sinai and the fascinating undulating bridge over the Suez canal. At times the political infighting grew boring, but it makes up a good part of the story of this period in Israel's history.

This remains a fascinating read, but I would recommend reading "The Hope" first in order to set the stage

since the book is based on actual historical events, it could not be full of surprises. Some of the characters are actual historical figures, others are fictional but they are well developed. I think the mood could also be called hopeful, as I felt the characters knew the odds were against them, but remained determined and hopeful they would succeed. I read this after first reading The Hope and very much enjoyed both books. No vampires or supernatural powers, no too good to be true heroine or handsome hero, but characters that had faults and were believable.

Wouk's forte is writing about people in the midst of historic events in a way that brings into perspective. He succeeds again with The Glory and The Hope. He weaves the lives of his characters through a background of the founding of the nation of Israel. If you're interested in modern history, especially the Middle East, this is a great introduction book. It's well researched and full of historical detail but doesn't explore the Arab side of the question.

While I've thoroughly enjoyed reading Herman Wouk in the past, The Glory never captured my interest. When the narrative took us into the events of the Yom Kippur War, it was interesting to read. However, when he got away from the war and dealt with the many characters, I completely lost interest. His characters seemed flat and colorless.

The Glory continues where The Hope left off and continues with the characters we have come to know in The hope as well as introducing us to the trials and tribulations of their grown up children: The new generation
We are taken through key pints in Israel's struggle for survival: The raid on terrorists in Beirut in retaliation for the massacre by PLO operatives of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics; the horror and sacrifice of the Yom Kippur War and the resultant political fallout; the heroic raid on Entebbe to rescue Jewish hostages ;the tense and prolonged negotiations at Camp David between Israel and Egypt and Sadat's visit to Jerusalem in 1978 and the raid of a key Iraqi nuclear terminal by the Israeli airforce in 1981 .
The novel ends with the 1988 celebration of Israel's 40th birthday
In addition to the detailed and interesting lives of the key characters we get to engage with real life figures like Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Yitzhac Rabin Ariel Sharon and Defence Force Chief of Staff Motta Gur

A sweeping historical novel of Israeli history. "The Glory" traces the lives of a series of Israeli families from the 1960s-1980s. Most of the book centers on the 1973 Yom Kippur War. I mostly read non-fiction history books, so this was a bit of a change. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. While the book is a fictional tale, I felt I was learning about Israeli culture and history the entire time. Herman Wouk mixes fictional characters with real life figures like Moshe Dayan and Golda Meir. This style takes some getting used to, but by the 3rd chapter I was fine with it.

It was obvious the author spent considerable time in Israel, since he really brings out the local color and feel for the region and its people. Wouk really helped me understand the many sub-cultures of Israel. While the Jewish characters are well constructed, the Arabs are faceless, flat, and in the background. The battles in the Sinai and the commando raid on Entebbe are particularly well done. I look forward to reading "The Hope", which was the first book in this two-book series. I was 50 pages in, before I realized this was the second book.

It is definitely a cut above most pulp fiction turned out these days, since I felt I was given a good story and learned a bit along the way.

I generally like historical novels because the author generally fills in information about what it is was like for ordinary folks during the subject time period, and so, so often the author presents historical facts which I may have forgotten or never had known. Michener's "Poland" is a wonderful example of a historical novel succeeding in all these aspects.

Wouk succeeds wonderfully in presenting a history of Israel from October, 1967 (a few months after the Six-Day War) through April 22, 1988 (the 40th anniversary of modern Israel's independence). While from America I read newspapers and otherwise followed the news all through this period, and have read non-fiction works about portions of this period (I recommend Walter J. Boyne's "The Two O'Clock War: The 1973 Yom Kippur Conflict and the Airlift That Saved Israel" for his very informative description of American reactions to the Soviet participation supplying Egypt before and during the Yom Kippur War), until I read "The Glory," I had no recollection of Egypt's sinking of the Israel Navy Ship Eilat in October, 1967 and I don't think I ever knew that Israeli pilot's had blown hostile MiGs piloted by Soviet's out of the air. Wouk includes many other interesting points that would be new to many of us (well, at least, to me). Wouk provides for us an easy to read synopsis of the real-life relations of the Israeli leaders during the period leading up to and during the Yom Kippur (1973) War, with which his book is primarily concerned.

Wouk's book concentrates on the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In my opinion he does so because it is the most important event of modern Arab-Israeli history. Wouk depicts for us the many circumstances, including excellent Egyptian and Syrian planning, deception and execution (superior even to Japan's analogous efforts with respect to Pearl Harbor), heavy diplomatic pressures, and basic errors of judging intelligence by Israel, which led to the early successes of Egypt and Syria. Wouk excellently describes the dramatic turnaround as Israel resolutely fought back. Wouk also immerses us in the fantastic development and movement through two Egyptian armies of a 400 ton roller assault bridge which proved essential to Israel's counter-attack across the Suez Canal into African Egypt.

Why was this war such an important event? Wouk's characters explain that based just on Egypt's success during the few days of the war, Sadat was able to summon the courage to do what no other Arab leader had done: negotiate to recognize Israel. (Unfortunately, such brave men willing to talk peace such as Sadat and Rabin were assassinated.)

In 675 pages (hardcover edition), Wouk gives us a very fast-paced history, which includes the rescue from Entebbe, Uganda of hijacked airline passengers and the bombing of Saddam's nuclear plant), while providing excellent context and background.

Yes, it is presented from the Israeli point of view. But it is more balanced than accounts by pro-Arab commentators who say, for example, that Israel would not have had the successes it scored in the Yom Kippur War without the help of America, while conveniently omitting the facts that Egypt and Syria had been armed by the Soviet Union and resupplied by Soviet air and sea lifts. (By the way, many articles on the 1973 Yom Kippur War, written from many points of view, can be found at <[...]>.)

I echo doc peterson's comments. The depiction of the personal lives of the fictional characters just does not work. After the first 3 chapters I realized that I would have to diagram the relationships to keep up, what with all the love triangles, quadrangles, etc., so I decided to just no worry about them. Quite a contrast to Wouk's wonderful writing of the fictional characters in "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance."

However, as I've indicated above, Wouk's historical depictions do work!

So, I highly recommend "The Glory." I give it only four stars because I quickly lost interest in the fictional characters.

Another outstanding book by Herman Wouk. He is a master at weaving historical fact with fictional characters. I hadn't read anything by him in some time and The Glory was a great reminder of what a masterful writer he is and one of my all time favorites. I already ordered The Hope. We can never afford to forget what Israel and the Jewish people have been through and ensure it never happens again.

I love Herman Wouk's storytelling skill. It was comfortable to renew acquaintances with familiar characters from his previous novels and then to grow with the following generations. Recognizing that his historical fiction is written from the Israeli/Jewish perspective, I felt I was drawn in to the history-in-the-making of the time with numerous insights into real characters of the period and enthralling behind-the-scenes interactions.

A very enlightening novel. There are so many aspects of the human experience s that we can be tempted to neglect or disregard.This was not only a human story but a very disturbing one which reveals how indifferent we continue to be to each other while mouthing all the appropriate platitudes. The story line was faultless the depth of the characters very real in the ways in which our other sides were revealed. The language was clear the depictions clear the descriptions and imagery very strong.

As a lover of historical fiction, I would rate this right there at the top. I read this book together with the author's previous book on Israel's history, The Hope, and together they form a very readable and interesting fictionalized account of Israel's early history.

I have just finished reading The Hope and The Glory by Herman Wouk and feel that I now have a much better understanding about Israel and its place in this world. Mr Wouk writes in a way that does not dwell or overly dramatize the events of history but still makes them very believable, especially for someone who remembers many of the events and wishes she had paid much more attention to history as it was happening. Mr. Wouk has woven together history, fiction and religion in a way so that I can appreciate all of the characters and events. Reading these books makes me want to read everything else written by Mr. Wouk as well as read other information on this period in history. This knowledge makes todays happening more interesting and important as the arab countries, and others, still try to rid the world of the Jews. I write this review as the PA is getting ready to go to the UN to request admission as a Palestinian sate.

I never realized how close the Israelis were to losing their country in the Yom Kippur War, and how incredibly s) all their citizens were. Pretty interesting mixture of fact and fiction--I loved the whole story and the all-too-human characters.

This is a wonderful book. This is the second time I've read both books. Some things I had forgotten about them. It was really like reading them the first time. It was nice to remember the characters, like reading about old friends. Great books.

I chose the Glory by Herman Wouk, because my father recommended it to me. He had recommended numerous other book to me, and I had liked them, so I thought why not this one.

The book takes place over about a 20 year period starting in late 1967 after the 6 day war in Israel. The majority of the book however, takes place from late '67 to October 1973 when the Yom Kippur war started. It takes place mostly in Israel, but also in the United States. It covers five families, and how the wars in Israel were disastrous to them, because they took lives and hope away from them. In the middle of 1973 after Anwar Sadat had become leader of Egypt, the Israelis were expecting a war. However, they were still surprised when they were attacked on their most holy day. For the first week of the war the overwhelming Egyptian manpower, coupled with the unlimited reinforcement in arms from the Soviet Union, threatened to destroy the Israeli nation. However help from the United States and superior tactics allowed Israel to escape, however narrowly for the time being. Detail is then given how the Egyptians offer peace treaties, only to break them the following day. The book then shows how these five families overcome there losses to begin anew.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It gave me a profound sense of how dire that time was for the Israeli people. I can see the in the last twenty years or so not much has changed. Numerous countries still want to try and destroy Israel. The peace treaties that have been signed have had no effect on the Arab people. It is interesting to notice, how many things change over time, but also how many things stay the same. The Jewish have been a target for thousands of years. Another reason this book was so enjoyable, was that I love to read about my heritage. And even though I am not an Israeli Jew, I am still Jewish. This book impacted how I feel about the situation in the Middle East. I would recommend this book to anyone who has any interest whatsoever in the Middle East.

I loved this book for its history recap of Israel. It also provided varied and interesting insight into the Jewish people and their plight. There were four or so fictionalized subplots going on throughout the book that drove me on to want to read more. Character development great..

A great book, along with its predecessor The Hope. A magnificent weaving of history and fictional characters, evoking a sense of gratitude for the brave people who have fought for the very existence of Israel.

I ;like historical novels. The characters in this one are believable and struggle with many of the same issues we all face. I feel it is a good book for understanding the situation in Israel, and I would like to see one about the current situation.