Letters

A reader challenges some Rosen titles

I was shocked to read Jonathan Betz-Zall's mostly positive review of Matthew Broyles's The Six Day War and Aaron Rosenberg's Yom Kippur War (Rosen, 2004; Jan. 2005, p. 142). Betz-Zall claims that "the authors carefully present both sides of the conflicts" and that the books "are quite well organized." While he does offer some criticisms of the books, I'm concerned that his review might mislead librarians into purchasing this very problematic series.

Matthew Broyles, the author of The Six Day War is "a writer and musician living in New York City," who used two books about the Six Day War (Warriors for Jerusalem [S&S, 1985] by Donald Neff and Six Days of War [Oxford, 2002] by Michael Oren) and a handful of ABC News, CNN, and other general Web sites to provide students with a poorly written, inadequate, inaccurate, misleading, and biased account of the Six Day War and the history of the Middle East. From the first paragraph, Broyles's insensitivity and lack of knowledge are obvious. He refers to "Jerusalem and its surrounding lands" in 63 B.C. as Palestine when in fact the term Palestine was not used until 70 C.E. His glossary definition of Judaism uses the term "Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament" (p. 58) and he neglects to define several important terms used throughout the text. Broyles quotes Oren, author of Six Days of War, extensively and numerous times Broyles quotes historical figures according to Oren rather than using the original, primary source (p. 33, 37, 39, 41, 45, 50, and 52 to cite a few examples).

In The Yom Kippur War, Rosenberg neglects to set the Yom Kippur War and Jerusalem in the correct historical context implying that Islam's religious center is Jerusalem and that the Jews first claimed the city in 1948. Rosenberg also provides a poor example for student researchers—eight of the 10 sources listed in his bibliography are Web sites. Pair this with the fact that Rosenberg is "a writer and owner of a gaming company" and it becomes undeniably clear that he also is not qualified to author a book for this series.

Both volumes include a "For More Information" section. Rosenberg lists The Abraham Fund Initiatives, The Arab Organization for Human Rights, and the Zionist Organization of America; Broyles lists the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Center for Jewish History, and the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace (which is listed with an incorrect Web address). However, none of these organizations can provide students with more information about the history of the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, or about war and conflict in the Middle East.

The lack of qualifications, background, and authority of the authors and editors in this series is glaringly obvious on almost every page. These books are not recommended for any library.

Rachel Kamin
Director
Temple Israel Libraries & Media Center
West Bloomfield, MI