Arik

From the former editor in chief of Haaretz, the first in-depth comprehensive biography of Ariel Sharon, the most important Israeli political and military leader of the last forty years.
The life of Ariel Sharon spans much of modern Israel's history: A commander in the Israeli Army from its inception in 1948, Sharon participated in the 1948 War of Independence, and played decisive roles in the 1956 Suez War and the six day War of 1967, and most dramatically is largely credited with the shift in the outcome of the Yom Kippur War of 1973. After returning from the army in 1982, Sharon became a political leader and served in numerous governments, most prominently as the defense minister during the 1983 Lebanon War in which he bore "personal responsibility" according to the Kahan Commission for massacres of Palestinian civilians by Lebanese militia, and he championed the construction of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. But as prime minister he performed a dramatic reversal: orchestrating Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Landau brilliantly chronicles and analyzes his surprising about-face. Sharon suffered a stroke in January 2006 and remains in a persistent vegetative state. Considered by many to be Israel's greatest military leader and political statesman, this biography recounts his life and shows how this leadership transformed Israel, and how Sharon's views were shaped by the changing nature of Israeli society.

DAVID LANDAU immigrated to Israel from the United Kingdom as a young man. His career in journalism began in 1972 at The Jerusalem Post, and he joined Haaretz in 1993 as news editor. He was the founder and editor in chief of the Haaretz's English edition from 1997 to 2004, and is currently the Israel correspondent for The Economist. Landau collaborated with Israel's president, Shimon Peres, on his memoir, Battling for Peace (Random House, 1995). He published, with President Peres, Ben-Gurion, A Political Biography (Nextbook/Schocken, 2012). He is the author of Piety and Power (1993), an account of the increasingly significant role the ultra-orthodox ("haredi") play in Israel, the United States, and Europe. Landau graduated in law from University College, London and studied in leading yeshivas in Israel. Landau is married with children and grandchildren and currently lives in Jerusalem.