Leon Uris
 Leon Uris    (author, propagandist) | |
|---|---|
 Leon Uris during a 1967 visit to Israel | |
| Born | Leon Marcus Uris August 3, 1924 Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
| Died | June 21, 2003 (Age 78) |
| Nationality | US |
Leon Marcus Uris was a Jewish-American author of historical fiction who wrote many bestselling books including Exodus: A Novel of Israel (published in 1958), and Topaz (published in 1967).[1]
Published by Doubleday in 1958, Exodus, about the founding of the State of Israel, became an international publishing phenomenon, and one of the biggest bestsellers in the United States ever[2]. It was still at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list eight months after its release. Otto Preminger directed a 1960 film based on the novel, featuring Paul Newman.
The novel and subsequent movie formed the basic ideas about Palestine and Israel held by generations of Americans and others around the world.
Life and career
Uris was born in Baltimore, Maryland.[3] He fought with the Marines in the Pacific during WW2.
His first book Battle Cry was published in 1953, tells the story of Uris' own experience in the Marines during WW2. It was turned into a film in 1955, with assistance from the Department of Defence (DoD), and was directed by Raoul Walsh, who made a lot of DoD productions, and produced by Jack Warner of Warner brothers, who worked for the US Army Air Force's First Motion Picture Unit during WW2.[4]
Uris covered the Anglo-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt as a war correspondent in 1956.[5]
Exodus
Exodus is a historical novel about the founding of the State of Israel beginning with a compressed retelling of the voyages of the 1947 immigration ship Exodus and describing the histories of the various main characters and the ties of their personal lives to the birth of the new Jewish state.
Rashid Khalidi the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, said that Exodus:
Now, I think it’s worth noting that this book was not the unaided fruit of the loins as it were, the intellectual loins of Leon Uris. He wrote it, of course, but the book was commissioned by a renowned public relations professional, a man who was in fact considered by many to be the founder of public relations in the United States, a fellow by the name of Edward Gottlieb, who desired to improve Israel's image, and who chose Uris to write the novel after his successful first novel on World War II, and who secured the funding which paid for Uris’s research and trip to Israel. Given that many of the basic ideas about Palestine and Israel held by generations of Americans find their origin either in this trite novel or the equally clichéd movie, Gottlieb’s inspiration to send Leon Uris to Israel may have constituted one of the greatest advertising triumphs of the twentieth century. The man deserves his place in the public relations pantheon.[6]
The book and movie initiated a new sympathy for the newly established State of Israel.[7] Uris acknowledged writing from a pro-Israel perspective after the book's publication, stating that: "I set out to tell a story of Israel. I am definitely biased. I am definitely pro-Jewish," and the then–Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion remarked that: "as a piece of propaganda, it's the greatest thing ever written about Israel".[8][9]
Topaz
The novel Topaz dealt with an alleged Soviet spy ring inside the French intelligence service SDECE. The story was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1969. The book is clearly based on the claims of Anatoliy Golitsyn, a Soviet defector exploited by CIA counterintelligence leader Jim Angleton to create credibility for his accusations against a large number of specific people as Soviet spies among Western allies.
Tom Secker mentions the Leon Uris book and Hitchcock film as a possible example of CIA propaganda. CIA records suggest that at least the book part of the Topaz project was CIA weaponised fiction, in an attempt to discredit De Gaulle.[4]
The Haj (1984)
The novel The Haj a 1984 best-seller, tells the story of the birth of Israel from the viewpoint of a Palestinian Arab.[10]
Eric Homberger reviewed it as:
In The Haj "good" Arabs fondly look after the residents of a nearby kibbutz, while "bad" Arabs spread rumours of Jewish atrocities, and force out the remaining Arabs to a grim life in refugee camps. Arabs, as the New York Times review noted, appear in Uris's novels as murderers, thieves and rapists. They are lazy, cowardly, boastful, deceitful, untrustworthy, backbiting, and lustful. The Haj presents the Zionist interpretation of the Palestinian people. As an instance of bias and bigotry, it is hard to beat.[11]
References
- ↑ "Author Leon Uris Dies at 78", The Elyria (Ohio) Chronicle Telegram, June 25, 2003, p. A8.
- ↑ Exodus special edition, Amazon books description
- ↑ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20030624/ai_n11400762
- ↑ a b https://www.spyculture.com/clandestime-035-topaz/
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/25/guardianobituaries.books
- ↑ https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/109786
- ↑ God, Guns and Israel: Britain, The First World War And The Jews in the Holy City, Jill Hamilton, p. 181: "Two months after the tenth anniversary a novel was published in America that changed the public perception of Israel and the Jews. Exodus by the Jewish US ex-marine Leon Uris became an international publishing phenomenon, the biggest best seller in the United States since Gone with the Wind. Both the novel and the subsequent movie thrust Israel into the lives of millions, and with it initiated a new sympathy for the young country."
- ↑ http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=31116
- ↑ http://www.jewishjournal.com/yom_haatzmaut/article/rereading_leon_uris_exodus_a_disquieting_experience
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/24/obituaries/leon-uris-author-of-exodus-dies-at-78.html
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/25/guardianobituaries.books
