Theodor Herzl: The Charismatic Leader

by Derek Penslar

Overview

From the prizewinning Jewish Lives series, a masterful new biography of Theodor Herzl by an eminent historian of Zionism 

The life of Theodor Herzl (1860–1904) was as puzzling as it was brief. How did this cosmopolitan and assimilated European Jew become the leader of the Zionist movement? How could he be both an artist and a statesman, a rationalist and an aesthete, a stern moralist yet possessed of deep, and at times dark, passions? And why did scores of thousands of Jews, many of them from traditional, observant backgrounds, embrace Herzl as their leader?

Drawing on a vast body of Herzl’s personal, literary, and political writings, historian Derek Penslar shows that Herzl’s path to Zionism had as much to do with personal crises as it did with antisemitism. Once Herzl devoted himself to Zionism, Penslar shows, he distinguished himself as a consummate leader—possessed of indefatigable energy, organizational ability, and electrifying charisma. Herzl became a screen onto which Jews of his era could project their deepest needs and longings.

About Jewish Lives:

Jewish Lives is a prizewinning series of interpretative biography designed to explore the many facets of Jewish identity. Individual volumes illuminate the imprint of Jewish figures upon literature, religion, philosophy, politics, cultural and economic life, and the arts and sciences. Subjects are paired with authors to elicit lively, deeply informed books that explore the range and depth of the Jewish experience from antiquity to the present.

In 2014, the Jewish Book Council named Jewish Lives the winner of its Jewish Book of the Year Award, the first series ever to receive this award.

More praise for Jewish Lives:

“Excellent.” – New York times

“Exemplary.” – Wall St. Journal

“Distinguished.” – New Yorker

“Superb.” – The Guardian

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300182507
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	02/18/2020
Series:	Jewish Lives
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Derek Penslar is the William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History at Harvard University. His previous books include Jews and the Military: A History and Shylock’s Children: Economics and Jewish Identity in Modern Europe. 
 

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 Becoming Theodor Herzl 11

2 Our Man in Paris 47

3 The Organizational Genius 85

4 Reaching for the Stars 125

5 If Yon Will It, It Is Still a Dream 163

Epilogue: The View from Mount Herzl 201

Notes 211

Acknowledgments 227

Index 229

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/23/2019

Penslar (Jews and the Military), a professor of Jewish history at Harvard, provides an excellent, concise biography of Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), architect of modern Zionism. The focus is less on the biographical details of Herzl’s life—though the broad strokes are covered—and more on the vision Herzl created that allowed him to position himself as the great visionary of Zionism at the end of the 19th century. Penslar focuses on three elements: Herzl’s “inner life,” his relation to Zionism, and his (self-defined) position in the world. While Zionism as an idea already existed, Herzl saw himself as the man of the hour, ready to step forward and take the movement to new heights. As a journalist, Herzl championed the Zionist cause and established the Zionist newspaper Die Welt in Vienna in 1897. He later formed and headed the First Zionest Congress. Penslar is meticulous in taking the reader along Herzl’s many attempts to bring the Zionist dream to life, which included approaches to Wilhelm II, the Ottoman Empire, the Rothschild banking family, and Cecil Rhodes. Penslar is sympathetic to but not forgiving of his subject, as when he depicts Herzl’s tumultuous marriage to Julie Naschauer. This is an exceptionally good, highly readable volume that will appeal to general readers and specialists alike. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

An engrossing account of a leader who, by converting despair into strength, gave an exiled people both political purpose and the means to attain it.”—Benjamin Balint, Wall Street Journal

“An excellent, concise biography of Theodor Herzl, architect of modern Zionism. . . . This is an exceptionally good, highly readable volume that will appeal to general readers and specialists alike.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Compact and lucid . . . a ‘kaleidoscope vision’ of Herzl’s life that helps open up new perspectives, not only on the life of Herzl but also on the understanding of modern Jewish nationalism in its global context.”—Moshe Zimmermann, Journal of Modern History

“This is a fine, thoughtful, and [balanced] book that can serve as an excellent introduction to a fascinating and still important figure.”—Steven Beller, Antisemitism Studies

“Penslar’s book is the finest biography of Herzl in print.”—Jess Olson, Journal of Church and State

“There is a lot of new information here and it is eloquently stated and wonderfully readable—so much so, that I read it in one sitting and then went back and read it again. This will become an indispensable text to today’s Zionist movement and its thinkers.”—Reviews by Amos Lassen

Winner of the 2020 Canadian Jewish Literary Award in the history category, sponsored by the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies

“Derek Penslar, the most original scholar on the history of Zionism today, has written a masterful book, which may indeed become the definitive Herzl biography of our age.”—Michael Brenner, author of A Short History of the Jews

“Theodor Herzl was the indispensable catalyst of the Zionist movement that began before him, developed independently of him, and prevailed on its own decades after his death. Penslar’s book unlocks this paradox, and in richly providing the historical context of his leadership, magnifies its achievement.”—Ruth R. Wisse, author of Jews and Power

 “Derek Penslar has found in Theodor Herzl an amazingly complex character and tells his story with deep insight and great fairness. This biography is innovative, carefully balanced, and engrossing.”—Tom Segev, author of A State at Any Cost: The Life of David Ben-Gurion

“In his pitch-perfect biography for a new century, accomplished historian Derek Penslar portrays the psychic traits that allowed Theodor Herzl to be elevated by the longings of a fledgling Zionist movement, which he in turn elevated into a political cause that has redefined Jewish and world history down to our present. An elegant masterpiece.”—Samuel Moyn, Yale University

From the Publisher

2020-02-14
The compelling story of Theodor Herzl (1860-1904), one of the primary leaders of the Zionist movement.

Penslar, who teaches Jewish history at Harvard, reveals with thorough research and bright clarity that Herzl was an astonishing talent and a striking physical specimen with a resonant voice. He became a journalist for the Neue Freie Presse, “the most prestigious newspaper in Austria-Hungary,” as well as a successful novelist and playwright; Penslar summarizes much of that work—sometimes excessively so. After reviewing Herzl’s youth, the author focuses on his growing passion for Zionism, rise to fame, access to the principal players in European and Middle Eastern politics, and creation of political groups that elevated Zionism in the world’s consciousness. In 1949, Herzl’s remains were moved from Vienna to Israel, where Mount Herzl now rises over western Jerusalem, featuring the national cemetery. Penslar portrays his subject as a gifted and popular journalist who eventually became the paper’s literary editor and who managed to write prolifically despite his growing commitment to Zionism and the requirements of family. The author paints a painful picture of Herzl’s fraught relationship with his wife, Julie. (It was her family money that funded the freedom Herzl enjoyed.) Penslar also shows that Herzl was not a practicing Jew. Instead, he saw the various threats to Jews in Europe and looked for a place that might accept a mass immigration. He “fashioned himself as a certain kind of Jew—a member of a nation, yet liberal, cosmopolitan, and outward-looking; non-religious but respectful…proud to identify as a Jew in the face of ridicule and hatred.” Although Herzl didn’t live to see his dream realized, he has become a cultural icon—though, as the author notes, his fame is fading among the Israeli young. Penslar does not neglect Herzl’s problems, including a passion for the spotlight.

Comprehensive reading, travel, and imagination form a firm foundation for this swift, focused biography.

Kirkus Reviews