Like Dreamers: the Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation / Yossi Klein Halevi 575 pp.

Halevi, an American-born Israeli journalist, spent years chronicling the lives of 7 men, the members of an elite Israeli Defense Force paratrooper brigade. During the chaotic and lightning-fast events of Israel's 1967 war, this particular brigade reached Jerusalem's Western Wall and entered and took East Jerusalem, which had been off-limits to the Jewish people for 19 years.

In 1967, these 7 men were young dreamers, each with his own vision for Israel. The return of East Jerusalem set off wild euphoria in Israel, and among Halevi's subjects as well, as it appeared that their dreams might now be realized. Halevi follows each man through the events of the last 40 years: the 1973 war, conflict with Lebanon, decline of the kibbutz and growth of the settlement movement, the rise of Likud, the assassination of Rabin, Oslo, Camp David, and more.

The power of Like Dreamers, apart from the colossal amount of information imparted in a surprisingly economical 500-odd pages, stems from the 7 paratroopers themselves. It is tempting at first to see them as symbols - one as peace-loving kibbutznik artist, the next as religious Zionist and settlement founder, a third as the left-most fringe plotting against his own government. Halevi's brilliance lies in showing the reader that behind every party, faction, or movement there are distinct individuals whose opinions can't be neatly labeled. Not an easy read, but an immensely worthwhile one.