The Hand of Mordechai
New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1968. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Hardcover. 256 pages. Includes full page black and white illustration of Mordechai Anilevicz (the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto fighters) opposite the title page, four black and white maps designed by Golda Carmi of Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, and footnotes. Illustrations include diagrams of the battle positions and a few unique photographs of the kibbutz. Margaret Larkin (July 7, 1899 – May 7, 1967) was an American writer, poet, singer-songwriter, researcher, journalist and union activist. She wrote The Hand of Mordechai on a kibbutz in Israel and its stand against the Egyptian Army in 1948, Seven Shares in a Gold Mine about a murder conspiracy in Mexico, and the Singing Cowboy, a collection of Western folk songs. Her last book was The Hand of Mordechai, on kibbutz Yad Mordechai around the 1947–1949 Palestine war. It was published in Hebrew, Yiddish, English, German, and Russian. The Israeli edition was published by Ma'arachot, the official publishing house of the Israeli Defense Forces, with a preface by General Laskov. This is the story of the Israeli kibbutz Yad Mordechai ("The Hand of Mordechai") during its struggle for existence during the Israel War of Liberation in 1948. The author visited the kibbutz herself and talked to fifty-five men and women, veterans of the founding of the kibbutz and the battle for its survival, who willingly shared their experiences with her. This book tells a very simple story. Of how the less than 150 inhabitants of Yad Mordechai held off a brigade-size (2000 soldiers) Egyptian force for nearly six days starting on May 19, 1948, and showed that freedom can be possible if one is willing to fight for it. 110 of the defenders escaped in a daring May 24 retreat, while 26 died in the battle. There were roughly 300 Egyptian casualties. Margaret Larkin does a splendid job of giving the history of this kibbutz prior to the War of 1948. And she gives an overview of the military situation at the start of the Arab invasion. Yad Mordechai was named for Mordechai Analevicz, a leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Jewish uprising. Condition: Very good / Good (small chips and some wear to dust jacket).
Keywords: Israel, Mordechai Anilevicz, Warsaw Ghetto Fighters, Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, Palestine, Arab-Israeli, Zionism, War of Independence
[Book #78891]
Price: $45.00