Anne Perez is a historian of modern Israel and Jewish studies and received a PhD in History from the University of California, Davis in 2018. She has lived, worked, and researched in Israel, Lebanon, and the UK, and is now based in Alabama. In this interview, we talk about her recent book, Understanding Zionism: History and Perspectives (Fortress Press, 2023).
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Nadya Williams: I’d love to hear the backstory to this book: how did you get interested in the history of Zionism? When and why did you decide: yes, I need to write this book?
Anne Perez: My interest in Zionism came by way of some wider interests: the diversity and complexity of modern Jewish history (15th century to present), the history of the modern Middle east (19th century to present), the relationship between the Church and these histories, and most broadly the relationships between religion and nationalism. I explored these topics in my undergraduate and Masters’ work, while traveling and living in the Middle East, and while earning a PhD in History. My dissertation research focused on the rise of Zionism and the early state of Israel – specifically about how early Zionists discussed and made policies about conversion (both to and from Judaism) as they developed ideas and institutions based on various notions of a Jewish nation and Jewish state.Â
As I talked to folks about my work, I anecdotally discerned two main groups: 1) those of us deeply invested in grappling with Zionism for either personal, professional or even religious reasons 2) those who did not even know what Zionism is. It felt like a worrying chasm for such a consequential topic. I also knew from my work that it wasn’t for lack of resources about Zionism that this chasm would exist, but there was arguably an overabundance of resources – much of which was steeped in polemics in one direction or another, narrowly focused (oftentimes for good reason, like scholarly rigor), and/or was just too lengthy or unwieldy. I felt that a synthesis was needed, a starting point for those who wanted to get a basic understanding and substantiated background of Zionism’s key developments and a summary of predominant views on the subject.Â
My personal circumstances led me to pursue the task of writing this needed primer. I am in the two-body academic spouse problem, and my husband started a tenure track job in biology in the summer of 2020. It was a pandemic, I had two small children, we were in a completely new city, and it just would not have made any sense for me to work outside the home. Since I was (and still am not) in a full-time faculty position, it also would not have made sense for me to take the more traditional post-PhD publishing route of turning my dissertation into a book. I wouldn’t need a research monograph as currency for tenure, and probably very few would purchase or read a book like this (even though they would be missing out). Furthermore, I did not have the institutional support necessary for a more research-heavy project. Instead, I used my time at home to pitch a general audience book on a topic I was qualified and motivated to explain.
NW: Who are your target readers here, and what are 2-3 main takeaways you hope your readers will get from this book?
AP: There are two key groups of target readers: 1) students in introductory courses about modern Jewish history, the modern Middle East, and adjacent subjects 2) non-Jews — and especially Christians — who have little to no prior knowledge of Jewish history. While any readers — Jewish or otherwise — would certainly get plenty out of the book’s historical and topical overview, this book deals just a bit more with questions surrounding Christian theology, Scripture, and Church history than non-Christian readers may be inclined to think about (particularly in the chapter on Christian Zionism). It also clarifies some topics that Christians and other non-Jews are more likely to have blind spots about than Jews.Â
One of the main takeaways from this book is that when analyzed from a historical approach — with attention to change over time, context, causality, complexity — Zionism has been a movement with its own diverse and even divergent streams, and there is a range of implications for these streams. Zionism has never been and is not one thing, and anything that suggests otherwise is either intentionally or inadvertently distorting the fuller picture.Â
NW: You wrote your book before October 7, 2023. What would you have written differently–if anything–if you were writing this today, in the aftermath of October 7?
AP: It’s an important and sobering question. I actually think that even though October 7th will be pivotal in the history of Israeli history (and of course in the history of Palestine as well), the history of Zionism and the foundational questions and challenges related to it remain what they were before October 7th. I think that the attacks of October 7th and the resulting war in Gaza certainly bring these questions and challenges into sharper relief than perhaps ever before. But the goal of my book was not as much to prescribe interpretations than it was to give readers as much of the relevant background as possible to develop their own interpretations and questions in the face of new information or events — October 7th included.Â
NW: What is something surprising or unexpected that you learned either about the topic and/or yourself in the process of writing this book?
AP: This is such a hard question, because so many things come to mind. One thing I discovered was that the more topical chapters (those on Christian Zionism, anti-Zionism, and the future of Zionism) were the most excruciating to write as compared to the chapters with a more chronological approach. The material to consult for these topical chapters was essentially endless (and included scholarship, journalism, current events, social media, etc.). It was hard to know where to cap the gathering process and begin the synthesis process: what if this next book, thinker, or article would drastically improve or shape my chapter? I guess this is something I could have and should have expected, but knowing when to stop gathering and start writing felt harder for these chapters than it did for the others or even than for previous writing projects. But also, these topical chapters felt harder to write because I knew their political, religious, and/or emotional charge, and I felt constantly aware that the way I wove material together could be (mis)construed by various perspectives.Â
I also discovered how old I am getting! Things that now qualify as history are things I remember as current events — I suppose everyone entering middle age starts to learn this!
NW: What are the big questions that fascinate you in your thinking, reading, and writing?Â
AP: Ultimately I think my big questions center on boundaries — who determines who is included and on what basis? What are the political, economic, and cultural consequences of the answers to these questions? How do religious and spiritual beliefs and leaders influence assumptions about national and social belonging? What happens when those within the same group disagree? Or worse, what happens when people don’t even consider these questions? I’m forever grateful for outlets like Current that deal with these questions head on, because it’s awkward to know how to do this in day-to-day life outside the academy.Â