Herzl The King

About the Book

On a hill overlooking Jerusalem, the once-mocked Theodor Herzl lies buried in honor as the man who envisioned the modern Jewish state. Neither warrior nor financier, neither theologian nor trained statesman, he was simply a foresighted Viennese journalist who at the beginning of the 20th century brought together from all parts of Europe those Jews able to assess the coming anti-Semitism and join him in the Zionist movement. Like Moses, Herzl led his people to the promised land but did not get to enter it— dying in his forties, alone, and broken by the still-unrealized task. Here is his story.

About the Author

The novelist and popular historian Norman Kotker (1931-1999) began his writing career with a much-respected history of Israel’s great city, The Earthly Jerusalem. Turning his researcher’s eye to a personal hero, he went on to his first novel, this splendidly-documented biographical tale of Theodor Herzl.