No Room for Small Dreams: Courage, Imagination and the Making of Modern Israel

by Shimon Peres

Overview

In 1934, eleven-year-old Shimon Peres emigrated to the land of Israel from his native Poland, leaving behind an extended family who would later be murdered in the Holocaust. Few back then would have predicted that this young man would eventually become one of the towering figures of the twentieth century. Peres would indeed go on to serve the new state as prime minister, president, foreign minister, and the head of several other ministries. He was central to the establishment of the Israeli Defense Forces and the defense industry that would provide the young state with a robust deterrent power. He was crucial to launching Israel’s nuclear energy program and to the creation of its high-tech “Start-up Nation” revolution. His refusal to surrender to conventional wisdom and political norms helped save the Israeli economy and prompted some of the most daring military operations in history, among them the legendary Operation Entebbe. And yet, as important as his role in creating and deploying Israel’s armed forces was, his stunning transition from hawk to dove—with its accompanying unwavering commitment to peace—made him one of the globe’s most recognized, honored, and admired statesmen.

In this, his final work, finished only weeks before his passing, Peres offers a long-awaited examination of the crucial turning points in Israeli history through the prism of having been a decision maker and eyewitness. Told with the frankness of someone aware this would likely be his final statement, No Room for Small Dreams spans decades and events, but as much as it is about what happened, it is about why it happened. Examining pivotal moments in Israel’s rise, Peres explores what makes for a great leader, how to make hard choices in a climate of uncertainty and distress, the challenges of balancing principles with policies, and the liberating nature of imagination and unpredicted innovation. In doing so, he not only charts a better path forward for his beloved country but provides deep and universal wisdom for younger generations who seek to lead—be it in politics, business, or the broader service of making our planet a safer, more peaceful, and just place.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062561466
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/16/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	235
Sales rank:	551,520
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Shimon Peres was one of Israel’s founding fathers and for more than six decades was an architect of its ascent from a fragile state to a global power. In 1994, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his extraordinary efforts to forge peace between Israel and the Palestinians. In 1996, he founded the groundbreaking Peres Center for Peace and Innovation to focus on developing and implementing imaginative peacebuilding programs around the world. Peres died in September 2016, shortly after finishing his work on this book. He was ninety-three years old.

Table of Contents

Timeline ix

Introduction xi

Chapter 1 The Call to Service 1

Chapter 2 Independence, Alliance, and the Fight for Security 35

Chapter 3 The Legend and Legacy of Dimona 81

Chapter 4 Operation Entebbe and the Virtue of Daring 107

Chapter 5 Building the Start-up Nation 145

Chapter 6 The Pursuit of Peace 173

Epilogue 221

Afterword 227

Editorial Reviews

09/04/2017
In the final book from Peres (Ben Gurion: A Political Life), completed only weeks before his death in 2016 at the age of 93, the Israeli founding father and Nobel Peace Prize winner takes a moving look at the remarkable arc of his life. Despite the humble circumstances of his upbringing in Poland, Peres came to play a prominent role in the Zionist movement, the establishment of the state of Israel, its development of a robust self-defense capacity, and the struggle for peace with its Arab neighbors. Even readers familiar with the general contours of Peres’s life story will find surprises, as in the pivotal influence he had, at just 23, on Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion’s strategizing. He offers many other behind-the-scenes looks at key historical events, including the 1956 Arab-Israeli War, the creation of the Israeli aviation industry, and the daring hostage rescue at Entebbe, for which he was the most forceful advocate. Peres remained a clear-eyed optimist until the end, notwithstanding the assassination of his political adversary turned ally, Yitzhak Rabin, and the lack of progress in achieving peace with the Palestinians. Comforting those who view the current situation as bereft of hope, Peres offers his own achievements as evidence that the seemingly impossible can become reality. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Peres was a man of big ideas and big accomplishments...I learned more than I previously knew about Peres, but I also felt that I was glimpsing the history of Israel through the eyes of one of its founding fathers and ultimate insiders.

Jewish Journal (Los Angeles)

Israel has made a tremendous contribution to global technological innovation...The leadership lessons in this book show why Shimon Peres was, in so many endeavors, able to glimpse opportunity when others predicted failure. If you don’t try, you don’t know– that’s the secret of innovation. Shimon Peres understood that.

Eric Schmidt

By his unyielding determination and principle, Shimon Peres time and again helped guide his beloved country through the crucible of mortal challenge. But it was by his innate humanity, his decency, that Shimon inspired the world over.

George H. W. Bush

Shimon Peres was a giant of Israel’s founding generation, a tireless advocate for peace, and an eternal optimist who lived his life with a sense of hope and possibility…All of us have much to learn from his story, which now belongs to the ages.

Barack Obama

The true secret to success, no matter how difficult things seem, is to face challenges with gratitude and forgiveness. That’s how President Shimon Peres became a transformational global leader....Reflecting on his life, he provides not only a gripping story but a hands-on guide to creative thinking.

Arianna Huffington

When I think of Shimon Peres, I think of a man who was a poet and a soldier—a rare combination that, when it works, is formidable.

Barbara Walters

Shimon Peres started…as Israel’s brightest student, became one of its best teachers, and ended up its biggest dreamer…This book captures my friend’s lifelong belief in our potential to rise above our wounds, our resentments, and our fears to make the most of today and claim the promise of tomorrow.

Bill Clinton

Shimon Peres, one of the great leaders of Israel for more than half a century, was an unusual statesman: a dreamer and a pragmatist, a thinker and a doer, a fearless campaigner for peace and compromise and a tireless builder of Israel’s armed forces...This book is a special treat.

Amos Oz

In a seven-decade career packed with historic triumphs and painful setbacks, Shimon Peres took pride in always looking forward. The book offers a rare glimpse into key chapters of his extraordinary life [and] offers his trademark optimistic blueprint for future leadership.

Associated Press Staff

Shimon Peres was a visionary optimist to his dying day, and his last words of hope were addressed to the young.  For all our sakes, let them be heard!

Daniel Kahneman

In a seven-decade career packed with historic triumphs and painful setbacks, Shimon Peres took pride in always looking forward. The book offers a rare glimpse into key chapters of his extraordinary life [and] offers his trademark optimistic blueprint for future leadership.

Associated Press

The final words of the last of the founding generation of Israeli leaders. But indefatigable dreamer that Mr. Peres was, his book also delivers a pointed, if veiled, message from the grave about the apparent dearth of vision in the present, and it looks to the future.

New York Times

No Room for Small Dreams proves that Peres’ voice and vision are not only still with us, but as forceful and relevant as ever.

Forbes

The final words of the last of the founding generation of Israeli leaders. But indefatigable dreamer that Mr. Peres was, his book also delivers a pointed, if veiled, message from the grave about the apparent dearth of vision in the present, and it looks to the future.” — New York Times

“In a seven-decade career packed with historic triumphs and painful setbacks, Shimon Peres took pride in always looking forward. The book offers a rare glimpse into key chapters of his extraordinary life [and] offers his trademark optimistic blueprint for future leadership.” — Associated Press

“Poignant...the eminent former Israeli leader delivers a heartfelt appeal to the best in the Israeli Jewish character.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Shimon Peres was a giant of Israel’s founding generation, a tireless advocate for peace, and an eternal optimist who lived his life with a sense of hope and possibility…All of us have much to learn from his story, which now belongs to the ages.” — Barack Obama

“Israel has made a tremendous contribution to global technological innovation...The leadership lessons in this book show why Shimon Peres was, in so many endeavors, able to glimpse opportunity when others predicted failure. If you don’t try, you don’t know– that’s the secret of innovation. Shimon Peres understood that.” — Eric Schmidt

“By his unyielding determination and principle, Shimon Peres time and again helped guide his beloved country through the crucible of mortal challenge. But it was by his innate humanity, his decency, that Shimon inspired the world over.” — George H. W. Bush

“Shimon Peres started…as Israel’s brightest student, became one of its best teachers, and ended up its biggest dreamer…This book captures my friend’s lifelong belief in our potential to rise above our wounds, our resentments, and our fears to make the most of today and claim the promise of tomorrow.” — Bill Clinton

“Shimon Peres, one of the great leaders of Israel for more than half a century, was an unusual statesman: a dreamer and a pragmatist, a thinker and a doer, a fearless campaigner for peace and compromise and a tireless builder of Israel’s armed forces...This book is a special treat.” — Amos Oz

When I think of Shimon Peres, I think of a man who was a poet and a soldier—a rare combination that, when it works, is formidable. — Barbara Walters

“No Room for Small Dreams proves that Peres’ voice and vision are not only still with us, but as forceful and relevant as ever.” — Forbes

“Comforting those who view the current situation as bereft of hope, Peres offers his own achievements as evidence that the seemingly impossible can become reality.” — Publishers Weekly

“Shimon Peres was a visionary optimist to his dying day, and his last words of hope were addressed to the young.  For all our sakes, let them be heard!” — Daniel Kahneman

“The true secret to success, no matter how difficult things seem, is to face challenges with gratitude and forgiveness. That’s how President Shimon Peres became a transformational global leader....Reflecting on his life, he provides not only a gripping story but a hands-on guide to creative thinking.” — Arianna Huffington

“Peres was a man of big ideas and big accomplishments...I learned more than I previously knew about Peres, but I also felt that I was glimpsing the history of Israel through the eyes of one of its founding fathers and ultimate insiders.” — Jewish Journal (Los Angeles)

From the Publisher

09/01/2017
Former Israeli president and prime minister Peres (1923–2016) wrote this brief autobiography in his 90s to highlight what he considered to be his major accomplishments in a public service career that spanned decades. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate further describes his firm support for a peaceful, two-state solution regarding the ongoing Israeli- Palestinian conflict. The politician recounts his emigration at age 11 from a shtetl in Poland, near the country's then border with Russia, to mandate-era Palestine and his efforts in the kibbutz movement, which attracted the notice of Israeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion. Peres also focuses on his role in securing arms and allies for the nascent state of Israel, arranging the development of the Negev Nuclear Research Center, planning and advocating for Operation Entebbe in 1976, and helping to build Israel's tech and financial industries. He credits his success to mentor Ben-Gurion and colleagues Moshe Dayan and Yitschak Rabin. VERDICT For those interested in learning more about Peres's dream of a prosperous future for Israel and her neighbors.—Joel Neuberg, Santa Rosa Junior Coll. Lib., CA

Library Journal

Mark Bramhall doesn’t try to sound like Shimon Peres in this series of autobiographical sketches by the former prime minister and, later, president of Israel. But he so inhabits the role as narrator that one might be tempted to think the work is being narrated by the author. He doesn’t use an accent, which would be distracting, but his facility with the occasional Hebrew and Yiddish sounds authentic. Peres wrote this book shortly before his death, and in it he covers a variety of momentous periods in Israel’s history and his role in each—such as the 1948 war for independence, the raid at the Entebbe airport to free hostages, and the decision to seek peace with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. It’s a fascinating look at nation’s history, and Bramhall’s reading makes it an enjoyable listen. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2017 - AudioFile

Mark Bramhall doesn’t try to sound like Shimon Peres in this series of autobiographical sketches by the former prime minister and, later, president of Israel. But he so inhabits the role as narrator that one might be tempted to think the work is being narrated by the author. He doesn’t use an accent, which would be distracting, but his facility with the occasional Hebrew and Yiddish sounds authentic. Peres wrote this book shortly before his death, and in it he covers a variety of momentous periods in Israel’s history and his role in each—such as the 1948 war for independence, the raid at the Entebbe airport to free hostages, and the decision to seek peace with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. It’s a fascinating look at nation’s history, and Bramhall’s reading makes it an enjoyable listen. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2017 - AudioFile

2017-07-17
In a posthumous publication, the eminent former Israeli leader delivers a heartfelt appeal to the best in the Israeli Jewish character.Although he was an early proponent of a vigorous Israeli defense system, aviation industry, and Dimona nuclear reactor, Peres (Ben-Gurion, 2011, etc.), who died in 2016, was known in his later career as a peace seeker. In this nonpolemical book, he candidly addresses this contradiction ("it was not me that changed; it was the situation that changed"). Born in 1923 in Poland, where, as a boy, the dream of Zionism caught his imagination, Peres was particularly inspired by the wisdom of his revered grandfather, who told the 11-year-old when he emigrated, "Promise me you'll always remain Jewish." A member of Ben Shemen Youth Village, farming on the frontier and also having to defend it from attack, Peres was caught up in the youth movement's debates of how the country should operate politically, and he became a young leader, catching the eye of the legendary David Ben-Gurion. The author actively campaigned for statehood, and that meant having to prepare for a war against the Arabs. "What good is the birth of a new state," Ben-Gurion's logic ran, "if it's immediately strangled in its crib?" Peres was appointed to transform the Haganah (later to become the Israel Defense Forces), and he comically depicts how he purchased arms directly from Czechoslovakia, then France, before the U.S. became a military supplier. Regarding the building of Dimona, the author cites Israeli policy of "nuclear ambiguity" as the effective deterrent in their enemies' "belief that they could overpower us." While Peres offers a self-glorying depiction of his role in the disastrous 1956 Suez Crisis, his desire to make peace with the Palestinians was sincere (he won the Nobel Peace Prize along with Yitzak Rabin and Yasser Arafat), and his drive to render the country a land of high-tech startups was truly visionary. Ultimately, Peres champions Israel as an immigrant nation strengthened by its "culture of chutzpah." A brief but poignant work of memoir and history.

Kirkus Reviews