Michael Brenner's brilliant short survey of one of the most interesting and embattled movements of the contemporary world is the most reliable introduction available in English into a subject that has become in recent years a matter of much controversy, very often on the basis of ideological prejudice or simply ignorance. This admirably objective review of a multi faceted movement deals both with its cultural and political origins and manifestations. -Walter Laqueur, author of The History of Zionism