Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew

by Avi Shlaim

Overview

A unique coming-of-age story from the lost world of Arab-Jews

In July 1950, Avi Shlaim, only five, and his family were forced into exile, fleeing their beloved Iraq to the new state of Israel.

'Remarkable.' Max Hastings, THE SUNDAY TIMES

Today the once flourishing Jewish community of Iraq, at one time numbering over 130,000 and tracing its history back 2,600 years, has all but vanished.

Why so? One explanation speaks of the timeless clash between Arab and Jewish civilisations and a heroic Zionist mission to rescue Eastern Jews from backward nations and unceasing persecution.

Avi Shlaim tears up this script. His parents had many Muslim friends in Baghdad and no interest in Zionism. As anti-Semitism surged in Iraq, the Zionist underground fanned the flames. Yet when Iraqi Jews fled to Israel, they faced an uncertain future, their history was rewritten to serve a Zionist narrative.

This memoir breathes life into an almost forgotten world. Weaving together the personal and the political, Three Worlds offers a fresh perspective on Arab-Jews, caught in the crossfire of Zionism and nationalism.

***

A TLS AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

'A beautifully written book which artfully blends the personal with the political.' Justin Marozzi, SPECTATOR

'Three Worlds, by the Oxford historian of the modern Middle East Avi Shlaim, is an often enchanting memoir of his childhood in Baghdad... A gripping account... A lost world in Iraq is brilliantly brought back to life in this fascinating memoir.' David Abulafia, FINANCIAL TIMES

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780861544639
Publisher:	Oneworld Publications
Publication date:	07/11/2023
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	180,135
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Avi Shlaim was born in Baghdad and grew up in Israel. He is now a Professor of International Relations at St Antony's College, Oxford. His previous books include the critically acclaimed The Iron Wall and he writes regularly for the Guardian, Middle East Eye and other outlets.

Editorial Reviews

04/03/2023

In this detailed, resonant account, historian Shlaim (The Iron Wall) recalls the complexities of growing up as an Arab Jew in Iraq and Israel. Born in 1945 Baghdad, Shlaim grew up in an affluent Jewish family that had little interest in Zionism, until antisemitic violence following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War forced them to flee to the newly created state of Israel. The move destabilized Shlaim, who had to learn Hebrew (Arabic was considered a “primitive,” “ugly” language) and find a place in an Ashkenazi-dominated society that often looked down on Arab Jews. He left for secondary school in England and returned to serve in the Israeli army, though the 1967 Six-Day War soured his perspective on Israel, as he began to view the country as a colonial power. Shlaim uses his narrative to illustrate the larger story of Arab Jews’ exodus from Iraq, arguing that Israel’s creation morphed the formerly protected minority into an “alien and usurping” presence in Arab spaces. While not all of Shlaim’s claims are equally persuasive—his contention that “the Zionist underground” was behind multiple bombings in Iraq that forced Jews to flee, for example, relies heavily on a document of uncertain provenance—he makes a convincing case that the creation of Israel had sometimes dire consequences for Jews in Arab countries. Those interested in alternative Jewish attitudes toward Zionism will find this illuminating. (July)

Publishers Weekly

'This remarkable upside-down tale... A personal story, not a polemic... provocative... His personal odyssey confers on Shlaim an exceptional authority for his words; he can say things that others of us cannot... his thesis deserves to be considered with respect.' —Max Hastings, The Sunday Times

'At the heart of this riveting and profoundly controversial book is Shlaim’s investigation into the Baghdad bombings against Jewish targets in 1950 and 1951... This is a beautifully written book which artfully blends the personal with the political. The recollections of family life in both its glory and its anguished tribulations are vividly recreated. Shlaim’s is a powerful and humane voice which reminds us that the Palestinians were not the only victims of the creation of Israel in 1948.' —Spectator

'Three Worlds, by the Oxford historian of the modern Middle East Avi Shlaim, is an often enchanting memoir of his childhood in Baghdad... A gripping account... A lost world in Iraq, which is brilliantly brought back to life in this fascinating memoir.' —David Abulafia, Financial Times

'[An] absorbing, contentious memoir... Even if it “cannot be rebuilt”, Three Worlds, quite marvellously, brings [the old world of Iraq] back to life.' —TLS

'An intimate and engaging life story that forces the reader to re-examine three very different worlds – Iraq, Israel and Britain – in the middle decades of the twentieth century. A reflective and insightful plunge into the identity politics of the Arab-Jew by one of Britain’s greatest public intellectuals. But also the best book I’ve read all year.' —Eugene Rogan, author of The Arabs

'This memoir is an engrossing personal narrative as well as a historian’s penetrating reflection on the misfortune of the "other victims" of Zionism: Jews exiled from their old Arab homelands where they were well integrated, and transplanted to Israel, to serve as a subaltern class of the Hebrew settler nation.' —Moshé Machover

'Three Worlds juxtaposes a fascinating family story, unfolding across Iraq, Israel, and the UK, with an intriguing historical account of Iraqi Jews during an especially calamitous period. Here the preeminent scholar of the Arab–Israeli conflict furnishes a precious personal glimpse into a past in which Arab-Jews figure prominently, generating a more subtle and multilayered picture of the partition of Palestine and its aftermath.' —Ella Shohat, author of On the Arab-Jew

'[Shlaim’s] mizrahi roots and experience produce a raw nerve, the emotional and psychological wellspring of his later oeuvre and politics... His personal story is moving, and it is told with atypical, engrossing candor... Three Worlds is very readable, like everything that Shlaim writes.' —Benny Morris, Tablet

'In this detailed, resonant account, historian Shlaim recalls the complexities of growing up as an Arab Jew in Iraq and Israel... Those interested in alternative Jewish attitudes toward Zionism will find this illuminating.' —Publishers Weekly

'Sharply observed, and without stridency, in making a case for an ecumenical Israel.' —Kirkus

‘Brave... Well written and informative, this is a fascinating glimpse into a forgotten world.’ —Tablet

'Vivid... This luminous memoir... offers readers a chance to reimagine life not ruled by force, fear, deceit and exclusion.' —Middle East Eye

'Avi Shlaim’s intriguing, ideologically-driven book, Three Worlds, is a bitter-sweet autobiography of an accomplished Iraqi Jew who left his homeland under duress, an impassioned look back at Iraq’s lost Jewish community, and a stinging critique of Zionism and Israel.' —Times of Israel

From the Publisher

Three Worlds, by the Oxford historian of the modern Middle East Avi Shlaim, is an often enchanting memoir of his childhood in Baghdad... A gripping account... A lost world in Iraq, which is brilliantly brought back to life in this fascinating memoir.'

David Abulafia

‘Shlaim goes into great depth to ascertain what happened through conversations with nonagenarians living in Israel... This book conveys a sense of profound sadness about those who found themselves at the mercy of events over which they had no control and who have lived with a continuing anguish.’

History Today

‘A wonderful book. Part heart-wrenching memoir, part historical masterwork... compelling... this book is a must... Such personal experiences are both riveting and tragic to read about.’

Balfour Project

‘Avi Shlaim’s intriguing, ideologically-driven book, Three Worlds, is a bitter-sweet autobiography of an accomplished Iraqi Jew who left his homeland under duress, an impassioned look back at Iraq’s lost Jewish community, and a stinging critique of Zionism and Israel.’

Times of Israel

‘This remarkable upside-down tale... A personal story, not a polemic... provocative... His personal odyssey confers on Shlaim an exceptional authority for his words; he can say things that others of us cannot... his thesis deserves to be considered with respect.’

Max Hastings

'At the heart of this riveting and profoundly controversial book is Shlaim’s investigation into the Baghdad bombings against Jewish targets in 1950 and 1951... This is a beautifully written book which artfully blends the personal with the political. The recollections of family life in both its glory and its anguished tribulations are vividly recreated. Shlaim’s is a powerful and humane voice which reminds us that the Palestinians were not the only victims of the creation of Israel in 1948.’

Spectator

‘A milestone in the modern scholarship of the Middle East.’

Edward Said on The Iron Wall

‘Strikingly fair-minded, scholarly, cogently reasoned.’

Daily Telegraph on The Iron Wall

2023-06-07
Memoir by an Iraqi-born Israeli writer and historian that examines the possibilities of peace in the Middle East.

There is nothing inevitable, writes Shlaim, about the “clash of civilizations” that rages between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East. In the days of the Ottomans, “although Islam was the official religion of the empire, Islamic law was not imposed on the non-Muslim communities,” who enjoyed full civil rights—very much different from the European lands where Jews “were seen above all as ‘the other’ and therefore constructed as a problem.” When European Jews arrived in Israel after the Shoah, strangely, they exercised similar prejudices against Arab Jews, so much so that Shlaim and his siblings, on arriving in Israel in the mid-1950s, shunned speaking the Arabic of their parents for the Hebrew of their new land. The forced diaspora of 850,000 Arab Jews—the author calls it the “Jewish Nakba,” placing it in parallel with the expulsion of Palestinians from their lands during the early years of Israeli statehood—was a predictable but also avoidable reaction on the part of Arab governments that rejected Zionism. As Shlaim tells it, his family history reflects the multinational and multicultural nature of the region, with some members servants of the British Empire, some merchants, some rabbis, and always “deep roots between the two rivers of Babylon,” ones that, he adds, “we had no reason to want to tear them up.” Many small events turned Shlaim away from Zionism, he writes, not least the conviction that after the Six-Day War, in which he served, “Israel became a colonial power, oppressing the Palestinians in the occupied territories.” He argues that a return to a one-state model in which all are equal will resolve the tensions between Palestinians and Jews. Moreover, it “carries the additional attraction of renewing the relevance of the Arab-Jew.”

Sharply observed, and without stridency, in making a case for an ecumenical Israel.

Kirkus Reviews

‘His memoir, despite being tragic in many ways, is ultimately hopeful, because Prof. Shlaim still believes in the possibility of a country where ethno-religious binaries break down and different peoples can live side by side in a hybrid culture.’

Current Affairs Magazine

‘While the subtitle positions the book as a memoir, it is more accurately described as a hybrid genre of political-social history, family history, and personal memoir... an insightful window into an understudied and under-researched aspect of both the modern Middle East and twentieth-century mass displacement... a compelling read in its interweaving of personal history and politics.’

Journal of Refugee Studies

'An intimate and engaging life story that forces the reader to re-examine three very different worlds – Iraq, Israel and Britain – in the middle decades of the twentieth century. A reflective and insightful plunge into the identity politics of the Arab-Jew by one of Britain’s greatest public intellectuals. But also the best book I’ve read all year.'

Eugene Rogan

‘Vivid... This luminous memoir... offers readers a chance to reimagine life not ruled by force, fear, deceit and exclusion.’

Middle East Eye

'This memoir is an engrossing personal narrative as well as a historian’s penetrating reflection on the misfortune of the "other victims" of Zionism: Jews exiled from their old Arab homelands where they were well integrated, and transplanted to Israel, to serve as a subaltern class of the Hebrew settler nation.'

Moshé Machover

‘Shlaim’s seventh and latest book is very different from his previous works but equally enlightening... Three Worlds is a captivating book. Shlaim is equally skillful in introducing to the reader the history of his family as he is when adopting the more detached perspective of the historian, which shines the brightest in his research about the bombings against Jewish targets in Baghdad. Three Worlds [is] proof of the special value to be found in the memoirs of experienced scholars that combine their personal stories with broader history.’

Informed Comment

'Three Worlds juxtaposes a fascinating family story, unfolding across Iraq, Israel, and the UK, with an intriguing historical account of Iraqi Jews during an especially calamitous period. Here the preeminent scholar of the Arab–Israeli conflict furnishes a precious personal glimpse into a past in which Arab-Jews figure prominently, generating a more subtle and multilayered picture of the partition of Palestine and its aftermath.'

Ella Shohat

‘Brave... Well written and informative, this is a fascinating glimpse into a forgotten world.’

Tablet