The Messiah of Laguardia

In the "Messiah of LaGuardia," author Elisha Porat collects six stories of modern Israeli life. For readers acquainted with Israel's turbulent yet exhilarating history, thhese stories present novel, sometimes disturbing images of familiar figures and events. Thepeople who made terrible sacrifies to build and preserve the country are here-soldiers, intellectuals, farmers, immigrants and kibbutzniks- but not as heroes and giants. Instead, the soldiers lose limbs and the intellectuals their inspiration, the farmers forsake their land, the immigrants long for their countries of origin and the kibbutzniks stray from their ideals. Yet the land of Isael, vividly and lyrically described, remains the home of the Jews.