"A clear-eyed account…captures the way politics in this young and tiny country are uniquely and deeply personal."
"Stunning…a chilling reminder that sometimes an assassin’s bullet really can alter the course of history. By unearthing previously confidential police and court records, Ephron gives us the definitive account of a fatal turning point for Israel. Killing a King is thorough, even-handed, and absolutely authoritative."
"Riveting."
"Incisive…. In a crisp and lively narrative, Ephron walks the reader through the assassination itself and its aftermath…[and] infuses his book with relevance by circling back to bigger questions."
"If the story of Yitzhak Rabin and Yigal Amir has anything to teach, it’s that individuals matter…The opportunity that Rabin was trying to seize—however small—was there for a moment, and it may never come again."
The New Yorker - Dexter Filkins
"Carefully reported, clearly presented, concise and gripping…a reminder that what happened on a Tel Aviv sidewalk 20 years ago is as important to understanding Israel as any of its wars."
Because so much of what followed in the two turbulent decades after Rabin's assassination happened in part as a result of that momentous event, a book examining the murder and its impact could potentially be little more than an exercise in rehashing what has already been written. But Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel …goes far deeper, tracing the trajectory of the crime to the present day. By providing the reader with an incisive picture of the political and religious forces that encouraged the demonization of Rabin for his perceived "treachery," a climate that made it acceptable for Amir and his friends to speak openly about Talmudic justifications for assassination, Ephron sheds new light on ultranationalism in contemporary Israel and the ways the security establishment has tended to coddle some of the country's most problematic citizens.
The New York Times Book Review - Ilene Prusher
…exceptional…Killing a King is not, at its core, a polemic about the echoing political consequences of Mr. Rabin's murder, though its subtitle might imply as much. Rather, it's an electrifying political narrative twinned with an old-fashioned crime story—of the sort that ought to be taught in journalism schools for its restraint, pacing and expert creation of suspense. The chapters alternate between Mr. Rabin's tortuous attempts to negotiate a peace agreement of mind-boggling significance and the machinations of an assassin whose sole aim was to thwart it. The book is a Greek tragedy told in split screen, a frame-for-frame chronicle of a deplorable death foretold…The real strength of this book…lurks in its hundreds of sparkling details, for which Mr. Ephron has a jewelry appraiser's eye.
The New York Times - Jennifer Senior
08/10/2015
"An authoritative narrative that will serve as a valuable record of history. It is also a page-turner…practically every page carries the tense energy of fresh insight."
Moment - David K. Shipler
"Exceptional…an electrifying political narrative twinned with an old-fashioned crime story—of the sort that ought to be taught in journalism schools for its restraint, pacing and expert creation of suspense…. The book is a Greek tragedy told in split screen, a frame-for-frame chronicle of a deplorable death foretold…. This tragedy ends, as so many do, with pride, suffering and fear on terrible display. It’s the flickering reel of fateful choices and desperate last moments that I’ll remember most."
New York Times - Jennifer Senior
"An illuminating version of the story…admirably concise and meticulously reported."
New York Times - A. O. Scott
"With remarkable reporting, Dan Ephron has written an epic story, honestly and skillfully. Killing a King is not just about Israel’s past. It’s also an important read for anyone who wishes to truly understand the country’s disturbing present and unsettling future."
"The killing of Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish fanatic helped derail the promising but fragile Middle East peace process and plunged Israelis and Palestinians into a nightmarish era of political violence and recrimination that haunts them still. In Killing a King Ephron digs up important details that give new understanding to those terrible events and their enduring impact. His authoritative account is both a sharply etched political thriller and a meditation on all that has gone wrong in the Promised Land."
09/15/2015
2015-07-27
