Israel and the Arab Nations in Conflict; Chernobyl and other Nuclear Accidents

The 'New Perspectives' series is a very welcome and highly accessible resource which provides a relatively balanced summary of the background to a range of historical struggles and crises. It attempts to bring the reader up to date by using the most recently available visual and documentary evidence. The books are robust and are well illustrated with photographs, maps and clear diagrams, laid out in arrays which support the text rather than distracting the reader from it. The language used is readable without being simplistic or evasive. Both of the books discussed here open with a graphic but non-sensational account of a crucial incident related to the main theme. Harris recounts the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, providing quotes from eye witnesses and the assassin himself. Condon describes the events leading up to and beyond the explosion at Chernobyl, including episodes of gross stupidity and of unimaginable heroism. Both authors then go back to the historical roots of their subject, providing carefully documented chronicles which bring us up to the present day. In neither case is there much cause for optimism, a fact which the authors do not attempt to avoid. It is of course easy to pick holes in the coverage of such controversial issues: in the first book, Arab atrocities are made more visible than Israeli ones, though the latter are not hidden; in the second book, the fact that the western powers used whole communities as guinea pigs for the effects of radiation could be given more prominence. These are caveats. I would highly recommend the books for all ages from later primary onwards.