My Father's House

The story of a great man, a founder of a nation, a Jewish immigrant from a Baltic state who established himself in the Promised Land in 1918, had to leave for America to earn enough money to buy his land, returned and finally settled. His youngest son, another great Israeli would grow to become a great commander and statesman, tells this moving story. It envolves the love of this pioneer for the land on which he worked so hard, and where he raised his family. Yigal, the narrator, makes this story a great read through the passion with which he writes. His love and respect for his father is really touching. On a first impression it seems that the old man is the protagonist, but on a second thought I believe what Yigal was really talking about was the land: "Sometimes we were so exhilarated by the cultivated soil that we would flatten ourselves on the earth, take a handful of soil and chew it. The earth was clean. And the possibly unexplainable fact is that I considered it tasty." Truly this Land is special. As I said, there's passion and tenderness in the telling of the story of this family. It is specially interesting for those who want to have an impression of what was life like for the Jews of Palestine before the War of Liberation, and also their relations with the Arabs.

Allon is a great writer, both in his "Scientifc" writing (Like the Suberb "A Curtain of Sand" that is a must to any strategist.) and in his storytelling. "My Father's House" is a great autobiography, written with a lot of love, nostalgy and humor. In his regular modesty that is uncommon among diplomats or Generals (And he was both.), especially in their autobiographies, Allon is not bragging in his great deeds, he isn't even placing himself in the center of the book, but he is telling us his own story, through his father's story. He is telling us about why he had become the person that he is, the person that had done all the great things that doesn't appear in the book. This book is giving a personal and very interesting point of view on the life in the pre-Israel Palestine told by a Jewish person who was born there, but more important, this book is reminding us that even the greatest people once had Fathers. Finish this book, and go give your dad a big hug!