Sacrifices in the name of Research

I recently (December) began a novel project which is requiring me to do research on a number of subjects I'm not tremendously informed about, including Israel, the Mossad, Judaism, Kabbalah (the Jewish version, not its Victorian/Hermetic descendant), and the Navajo.

I just purchased the latest edition of Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad by Gordon Thomas.

Publication Data:
# Paperback: 736 pages
# Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; Fifth Edition edition (March 3, 2009)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0312539010
# ISBN-13: 978-0312539016

I had hoped, based on reviews I read of previous editions, to find in this book a treasure trove of useful background information. I am sadly disappointed. I did glean useful tidbits, but the reader should be aware that this is not a rigorous history text. At times I felt that I had dipped into the pages of the tabloids.

First, this book could have benefited hugely from the services of a competent technical editor. It is in large part composed of anecdotes, and in some sections leaps around with wild chronological abandon in presenting them. Parts of it, particularly toward the latter half of the book, are repetitive. I even spotted a couple of paragraphs that I think were cut and pasted from one chapter to another verbatim, but I'm not motivated enough to go find the first appearance to cite page numbers. It also had a tendency to repeatedly explain terms, as if they were appearing for the first time, which had already been used repeatedly in earlier sections. This is a minor nit, but it became annoying after a while.

Second, it's choice of material to present is clearly aimed at the sensational and titillating, rather than scholarly. The first clue is the fact that chapter one opens with a detailed discussion of exactly what the Mossad knew about the death of Princess Diana. It returns to this issue at several subsequent points in the book as well. Also featured prominently are its investigations into the possible parties behind the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul.

I did glean some useful background from his discussion of the organization's early history, and some of its early successes. The hours I spent reading it weren't a total waste, but I think I would have gotten just as much use out of one of the earlier editions, rather than waiting for this one. The material related to the last 15 years or so includes so many items of popular conspiracy theory, many of which are presented with something less than perfect internal consistency on the part of the author, that I hesitate to place confidence in any of it.