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Reviled as a fascist by his great rival Ben-Gurion, venerated by Israel's underclass, the first Israeli to win the Nobel Peace Prize, a proud Jew but not a conventionally religious one, Menachem Begin was both complex and controversial. A powerful orator and mesmerizing public figure, Begin was imprisoned by the Soviets in 1940, joined the Free Polish Army in 1942, and arrived in Palestine as a Polish soldier shortly thereafter. He achieved instant notoriety for the organization's bombings of British military installations and other violent acts. Daniel Gordis's perceptive biography gives us new insight into a political figure whose influence continues to be felt both within Israel and throughout the world.