A friend sent two pictures from a bookstore in London and asked me for my opinion.
Left side
The issue with the books is that they fall into two camps
- Either Jewish Historians who are New Historians who seem to want to prove that Israel's founding was not as innocent. And that's a good thing. Because it wasn't. Segev and Pappe are good examples. But then they degenerated like Pappe into strident polemical nonsense like Glazer, who tried to accuse Israel of using the Holocaust and Judaism for whatever.
- British authors who are journalists. The issue with British authors is that they tend to fall into the "pro-Arab"' camp, especially if they are from the BBC. And generally, it's easier to access Jewish sources than Arab sources. And thanks to the New Historians, some of the perfidy of the Israeli side is more accessible.
- British Jews like Schama.
This isn't a terrible collection of books in the grand scheme of things. It's an attempt to balance within the constraints of a British bookstore.
Right side
This side is worse.
Anything by Chomsky is idiotic. Have the book; because it is referenced, it can receive less shelf space.
The books marked "with an x" fall into other traps.
The One Palestine Complete book is good reference material.
The thing about this list is that no book says - "Israel should exist and has a right to exist."
All of the books collectively push the narrative: "Israel was created by people who did evil acts, and the only solution is no Israel."