Coming Home to Jerusalem

Author(s): Wendy Orange

Location(s): Israel

Genre(s): Autobiography/Memoirs

Era(s): 1990s

Coming Home to Jerusalem, Wendy Orange’s story of her six years in Israel, is a vivid look at life behind the headlines, at the individuals who make up the fascinating and tumultuous place that is the contemporary Middle East. Orange and her family settled in Jerusalem in the early 1990s, and this is the story of her homecoming, the worlds she discovered, the people behind the politics, and the deep-seated ideas obscured by divisive ideologies. Her sojourn brings her into contact with famous authors, obscure artists, Evangelical teachers, American-Israeli housewives, and citizens weary of the turbulent life Orange finds so fascinating. As a reporter for an American magazine, she travels to remote parts of Israel and into the Palestinian territories — adventures that give her a broader picture of the age-old conflicts that inform the opinions of peaceniks and young soldiers, downtrodden refugees and elite politicians, on both sides of the cultural divide. Her portraits illuminate, with stunning immediacy, everyday lives lived in extraordinary circumstances, and she recounts her experiences with candor, wit, and a keen eye for the cultural and political undercurrents of her adopted home.

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