Book Reviews

Baltimore Jewish Times Book Review of "The Increment".rss feedComments (0)

The Increment

October 2009

Bob Jacobson
Special to the Jewish Times

David Ignatius
Norton 2009, 390 pages (hardcover), $26.95

David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist with expertise in the Middle East and the CIA, has written a taut foreign affairs/spy thriller based on today’s situation in Iran. The plot involves the White House, which is considering its options in light of a possible Iranian nuclear weapons development; a disaffected Iranian nuclear scientist; and Harry Pappas, head of the CIA’s Iranian Operations Division, which has no staff or contacts in Iran.

Pappas is still wrestling with the death of his Marine son, who was killed in Iraq in 2004 while Pappas was stationed in Baghdad and aware of the details about how poorly that war was going. Pappas has emerged with a new commitment to the truth in order to prevent another foreign policy debacle. But with few allies, Pappas operates within an environment that includes a CIA director who really doesn’t want to be there, rampant mediocrity in the agency and young advisors in the CIA and White House who are bent on confrontation with Iran.

Unlike Pappas, his British counterpart Adrian has actual resources to connect with the Iranian nuclear scientist. Adrian’s team, known as “the increment,” is reminiscent of the one in the movie, “Mission Impossible.” Adrian is in some ways an older version of James Bond. Once Adrian’s team assembles, the excitement factor of “The Increment” rises considerably.

Meanwhile, Pappas is involved not only in the details of the team’s operations on the ground in Iran, but politics in D.C. Inevitably, Pappas must also contend with other cunning and ruthless actors who are pulling the strings in England and Iran. Surprisingly, Israel figures only minimally in the story.

What makes “The Increment” such a page-turner is not only the spy intrigue but also its rich foreign relations content and insight into Iran’s socio-political dynamics.

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The Increment
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2007 Jewish Book Award Finalists

Finalists for the 2007 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, administered the Jewish Book Council, have been announced. The $100,000 prize, the largest of its kind in the Jewish literary world, honors an emerging author in the field of Jewish literature who has written a book of exceptional literary merit that stimulates an interest in Jewish themes.

Finalists are: Ilana M. Blumberg for "Houses of Study: A Jewish Woman Among Books"; Eric L. Goldstein for "The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race and American Identity"; Lucette Lagnado for "The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World"; Michael Makovsky for "Churchill's Promised Land: Zionism and Statecraft"; and Haim Watzman for "A Crack in the Earth: A Journey Up Israel's Rift Valley."

The inaugural Rohr Prize, awarded in 2006, went to Tamar Yellin for "The Genizah at the House of Shepher.”

2006 Jewish Book Winners

The National Jewish Book Association announced its 2006 award winners and finalists in a variety of categories. The winners are:

Jewish Book of the Year:
"A Code of Jewish Ethics" by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin
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American Jewish Studies:
Winner:
"Emma Lazarus" by Esther Schor
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Finalists:
"The Price of Whiteness" by Eric L. Goldstein
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"Crown Heights" by Edward Shapiro
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Anthologies and Collections
Winner:
"Writing a Modern Jewish History" by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
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Finalists:
"Scribblers on the Roof" by Melvin Jules Bukiet and David G. Roskies
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"Daughters of Sarah" by Eva Martin Santori
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Biography and Autobiography
Winner:
"The Lost" by Daniel Mendelsohn
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Finalists:
"This Has Happened" by Piera Sonnino and Ann Goldstein
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"A Family of Strangers" by Deborah Tall
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Children's and Young Adult Literature
Winner:
"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak
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Finalists:
"Solomon and the Ant" by Sheldon Oberman and Peninnah Schram
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"Yellow Star" by Jennifer Roy
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Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice
Winner:
"Fragmented Families" by Ellen Sucov
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Finalists:
"The Jewish Book of Days" by Jill Hammer
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"Auschwitz" by Laurence Rees
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Eastern European Studies
Winner:
"Caviar and Ashes" by Marci Shore
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Finalists:
"Men of Silk" by Glenn Dynner
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"Fear" by Jan T. Gross
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Education and Jewish Identity
Winner:
"Building Jewish Roots" by Faydra Shapiro
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Finalist:
"Rethinking Synagogues" by Lawrence A. Hoffman
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Fiction
Winner:
"The World To Come" by Dara Horn
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Finalists:
"Accidents" by Yael Hedaya
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"Disobedience" by Naomi Alderman
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"Golden Country" by Jennifer Gilmore
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History
Winner:
"Becoming Eichmann" by David Cesarani
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Holocaust
Winner:
"The Enemy" by Jeffrey Hart
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Jewish Family Literature
Winner:
"Lilith's Ark" by Deborah Bodin Cohen
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Women's Studies
Winner:
"Why Aren't Jewish Women Circumcised?" by Shaya Cohen
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