Table of Contents

Introduction; The Changing Fortunes of Libyan Jews Under Italian Colonialism; The British Military Administration: Hopes and Disillusion; The Role of International Jewish Organisations: Rehabilitation and Protection of Minority Rights; Exodus: The Choice of Israel; Settlement in Israel: The Pains of Displacement and the Difficulties of Absorption; Closing the Circle in 1967: The Final Exodus and its Challenges; Index.

About the Author

Maurice M. Roumani, born in Benghazi, Libya, is a Senior Lecturer in Political Sociology and the Middle East at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel where he is also the founder and Director of the J. R. Elyachar Center for the Study of Sephardi Heritage. A graduate of Brandeis University, the University of Chicago and the University of London, he has held teaching and research positions at Harvard University.

Reviews

"Dr Roumani uses a wide range of archival and oral sources, many of which have never been used before. Throughout the book, he reveals a mastery of the social and political history, and a fine understanding of the lives, hopes, fears and aspirations of Libyan Jews. His book is a testimony to their suffering and their fortitude." -- From the Foreword by Sir Martin Gilbert.
"Maurice Roumani has given us an impeccably researched, richly documented, and keenly insightful survey of Libyan Jewry's social and political evolution in the twentieth century. He brings to the study not merely the observations of a trained scholar with all of the requisite linguistic and methodological skills, but also the real life experience of someone who lived through the turbulent events of the period and was an actual witness to some of them. It is to Roumani's great credit that he is able to achieve an admirable balance of overall scholarly dispassion with the intimate poignancy of personal engagement. The Jews of Libya will surely take its place alongside the pioneer studies of Renzo De Felice and Harvey Goldberg." -- Norman A Stillman, Schusterman/Josey Professor of Judaic History, University of Oklahoma.