Nathan Thrall
OccupationWriter
Websitenathanthrall.com

Nathan Thrall is an American author, essayist, and journalist based in Jerusalem. Thrall is the author of A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy, which was named a best book of 2023 by over ten publications, including The New Yorker,[1] The Economist,[2] Time,[3] the Financial Times,[4] The New Republic,[5] The Millions,[6] Mother Jones,[7] The Forward,[8] Booklist,[9] The New Statesman,[10] and The Irish Times,[11] and was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice.[12] His first book,The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine, was published by Metropolitan/Henry Holt in 2017. He is a contributor to The New York Times Magazine,[13] the London Review of Books,[14] and The New York Review of Books.[15]

Thrall is the former Director of the Arab-Israeli Project at the International Crisis Group, where he covered Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel's relations with its neighbors from 2010 to 2020.[16]

Background and education

Thrall is Jewish and his mother is a Jewish émigrée from the Soviet Union.[17] Thrall received a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara's College of Creative Studies and an M.A. in politics from Columbia University. A former member of the editorial staff of The New York Review of Books, he was hired at the International Crisis Group by Robert Malley.[18] At the start of his tenure at the International Crisis Group, Thrall lived in Gaza.[19]

Books

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama

Thrall's book A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy was named a best book of 2023 by over ten publications, including The New Yorker,[1] The Economist,[2] Time,[3] the Financial Times,[4] The New Republic,[5] The Millions,[6]Mother Jones,[7] The Forward,[8] Booklist,[9] The New Statesman,[10] and The Irish Times,[11] and was selected as a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice.[12] The Financial Times named it a best book of 2023 in two categories, Literary Nonfiction[20] and Politics,[21] stating, “This quietly heartbreaking work of non-fiction reads like a novel. At its centre is a tragic road accident outside Jerusalem in the West Bank from which Thrall, a Jewish American journalist, carefully traces the labyrinthine lives of those involved and the tangled web of politics, history and culture that ensnare them all.”[22]

The Only Language They Understand

Thrall's essay collection The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine (Metropolitan/Henry Holt, 2017; Picador, 2018) received positive reviews in The New York Times,[23] Foreign Affairs,[24] Time,[25] and The New York Review of Books.[26] The Jewish Book Council's Bob Goldfarb wrote that his book, The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine, "brings unparalleled clarity to the dynamics of Israeli-Palestinian relations, and is an essential guide to the history, personalities, and ideas behind the conflict."[27] Mosaic selected the book as one of the best of the year, writing, "A knowledgeable and bold retelling of the Israel-Palestinian conflict that forces readers to take a serious and fresh look at their assumptions. Throughout its counterintuitive retelling of this history, it offers an unusually provocative and sometimes startling contribution to the genre."[28]

Journalism

The Separate Regimes Delusion

In January 2021, the London Review of Books published Thrall's article, "The Separate Regimes Delusion," which argued, "The premise that Israel is a democracy, maintained by Peace Now, Meretz, the editorial board of Haaretz and other critics of occupation, rests on the belief that one can separate the pre-1967 state from the rest of the territory under its control. A conceptual wall must be maintained between two regimes: (good) democratic Israel and its (bad) provisional occupation."[29] Thrall's article was praised in Haaretz by Gideon Levy, who wrote, "the American writer Nathan Thrall, who lives in Jerusalem, published an eye-opening and mind-expanding piece in The London Review of Books .... Thrall doesn't hesitate to criticize the supposedly liberal-Zionist and leftist organizations, from Meretz and Peace Now to Yesh Din and Haaretz. All of them believe that Israel is a democracy and oppose annexation because it could undermine their false belief that the occupation is happening somewhere else, outside of Israel, and is only temporary."[30]

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama

In March 2021, The New York Review of Books published Thrall's piece, "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: One man's quest to find his son lays bare the reality of Palestinian life under Israeli rule,"[31] together with an animated trailer.[32] The article was covered in The Washington Post,[33] Foreign Policy,[34] The American Prospect,[35] Jewish Currents,[36] European publications,[37][38] the Israeli newspaper Haaretz,[39] a podcast episode hosted by New York Times columnist Peter Beinart,[40] and a two-part, forty-minute segment on Democracy Now![41][42] Longreads called it "an astonishing feat of reporting" and named it a Best Feature of 2021.[43][44][45]

Thrall went on to write a non-fiction book based on the article, completing the work with the help of New York Bard College, which awarded Thrall a writing fellowship. The college invited him to teach a course and Thrall proposed one on Israel and apartheid which he gave for Spring 2023.[46][47] A Day in the Life of Abed Salama-Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy was published on October 3, 2023 by Metropolitan Books.

Bibliography

Books

  • Thrall, Nathan (2023). A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy.[48] New York, NY: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt & Company. Hardcover ISBN 9781250854971. ebook ISBN 9781250854988.
  • Thrall, Nathan (2017). The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 978-1627797092. Hardcover ISBN 1627797092, 978-1627797092; Electronic ISBN 1627797106, 978-1627797108 (electronic book). Thrall, Nathan (2018). The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine. New York, NY: Picador. ISBN 978-1250303899. Paperback ISBN 1250303893, 978-1250303899. Audio book: Tantor Audio, 2017. ASIN: B071VGJDQK.[19]

Book chapters

  • "Can Hamas be part of the solution?," in Jamie Stern-Weiner ed., Moment of Truth: Tackling Israel–Palestine's Toughest Questions. New York, New York: OR Books, 2018.[49]

References

  1. 1 2 "The Best Books of 2023". The New Yorker. 2023-01-25. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  2. 1 2 "The best books of 2023, as chosen by The Economist". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  3. 1 2 "The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023". TIME. 2023-12-07. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  4. 1 2 "Best books of 2023 — Literary non-fiction". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  5. 1 2 Republic, The New; Marsh, Laura; Marsh, Laura; Alam, Rumaan; Alam, Rumaan; Nwanevu, Osita; Nwanevu, Osita; Kindley, Evan; Kindley, Evan (2023-12-18). "The New Republic's Books of the Year". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  6. 1 2 Schwartz, Madeleine (2023-12-19). "A Year in Reading: Madeleine Schwartz". The Millions. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  7. 1 2 Jones, Mother. "The 29 books we couldn't stop thinking about in 2023". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  8. 1 2 Connelly, Irene Katz (2023-12-18). "The best Jewish books of 2023". The Forward. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  9. 1 2 Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Books, 2023, by | Booklist Online.
  10. 1 2 Statesman, New (2023-11-24). "Books of the year 2023". New Statesman. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  11. 1 2 "The best books of 2023: Writers and critics choose". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  12. 1 2 "9 New Books We Recommend This Week". The New York Times. 2023-11-30. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  13. ↑ Thrall, Nathan (2019-03-28). "How the Battle Over Israel and Anti-Semitism Is Fracturing American Politics". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  14. ↑ Thrall, Nathan. "Nathan Thrall · LRB". London Review of Books. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  15. ↑ "Nathan Thrall". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  16. ↑ "Nathan Thrall". Crisis Group. 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  17. ↑ Rachel Cooke (October 15, 2023). "'It's lonely being a Jewish critic of Israel' – Nathan Thrall on his book about a Palestinian father's tragedy". The Guardian.
  18. ↑ Seaton, Matt; Thrall, Nathan. "The Endless Occupation, a New Understanding". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  19. 1 2 Thrall, Nathan (2017-05-16). The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine. Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-1-62779-710-8.
  20. ↑ "Best books of 2023 — Literary non-fiction". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  21. ↑ "Best books of 2023 — Politics". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  22. ↑ "Best books of 2023 — Literary non-fiction". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2023-12-24.
  23. ↑ Beckerman, Gal (2017-05-22). "50 Years On, Stories of the Six Day War and What Came After". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  24. ↑ Koplow, Michael J. (2019-08-14). "Language Lessons". Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  25. ↑ "Is Force the Solution to Peace in the Middle East?". Time. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  26. ↑ Shulman, David. "Israel's Irrational Rationality". New York Review of Books. ISSN 0028-7504. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  27. ↑ "The Only Language They Understand | Jewish Book Council". 2017.
  28. ↑ "The Best Books of 2018, Chosen by Mosaic Authors » Mosaic". Mosaic. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  29. ↑ Thrall, Nathan (2021-01-21). "The Separate Regimes Delusion". London Review of Books. Vol. 43, no. 2. ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  30. ↑ Levy, Gideon (2021-01-17). "Not 'Apartheid in the West Bank.' Apartheid". Haaretz. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  31. ↑ Thrall, Nathan. "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  32. ↑ The New York Review of Books (2021-03-18). "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama [video]". Vimeo.
  33. ↑ "Analysis | As Israel votes again, Palestinians still wait their turn". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  34. ↑ Walt, Stephen M. (27 May 2021). "It's Time to End the 'Special Relationship' With Israel". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  35. ↑ Alterman, Eric (2021-04-02). "Altercation: An Anti-Semite Who's Anything But". The American Prospect. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  36. ↑ "Shabbat Reading List". Jewish Currents. 2021-03-19. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  37. ↑ Schipper, Jannie (27 April 2021). "'Apartheidsstaat Israël stevent af op compleet succes voor de kolonisten'". NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  38. ↑ "" Pourquoi maintenant ? " : sur les origines de la guerre des onze jours". Le Grand Continent (in French). 2021-05-29. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  39. ↑ "J Street Conference Marks 'A New Day in Washington' for U.S.-Israel Relations". Haaretz. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  40. ↑ ""Occupied Thoughts": Nathan Thrall, Peter Beinart, and "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama"". Foundation for Middle East Peace. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  41. ↑ "Nathan Thrall on the Historic Palestinian Uprising Against Israeli Control from the River to the Sea". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  42. ↑ "Nathan Thrall on "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama" & Reality of Palestinian Life Under Israeli Rule". Democracy Now!. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  43. ↑ "What Happened to Milad? A Palestinian Father Searches for His Son". Longreads. 2021-05-24. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  44. ↑ "The Top 5 Longreads of the Week". Longreads. 2021-05-21. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  45. ↑ "Best of 2021: Features". Longreads. 2021-12-16. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
  46. ↑ McGreal, Chris (November 8, 2023). "Israeli diplomat pressured US college to drop course on 'apartheid' debate" – via The Guardian.
  47. ↑ "Coursicle – Chat with classmates". www.coursicle.com.
  48. ↑ Thrall, Nathan (2023). A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy. New York, NY: Metropolitan/Henry Holt. ISBN 9781250854971.
  49. ↑ "Moment of Truth: Tackling Israel–Palestine's Toughest Questions | Edited by Jamie Stern-Weiner". OR Books. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
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