A prophet from amongst you: the life of Yigael Yadin : soldier, scholar, and mythmaker of modern Israel

As warrior and as mythmaker, Yigael Yadin has been depicted as one of the most heroic figures in the rise of modern Israel. In A Prophet from Amongst You, Neil Asher Silberman has written the first full-scale biography of this man whose career was a larger-than-life adventure of war, politics, and discovery.Known throughout the world for his spectacular archaeological discoveries at Masada and his decipherment of the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, Yigael Yadin lived a life that parallels the history of the modern Jewish state. As soldier and protege of Ben-Gurion in the 1940s, he rose through the ranks to become a commander of the Jewish forces in Palestine, playing a key role in the winning of Israel's War of Independence. He left the military to study archaeology, but went on to use his sensational discoveries for the same purposes he had fought wars - as a way to legitimize and defend the existence of modern Israel.As director of the massive excavations at Masada - one of the most famous archaeological expeditions of the twentieth century - he transformed the ruins of a remote ancient fortress in the Judean desert into a vivid national myth of refusal to surrender. In "proving" that thousands of years ago a small group of Jewish rebels withstood more powerful Roman forces, he reinforced the struggles of the modern Jewish state. For Yadin, all his discoveries "proved" the physical daring, tactical ingenuity, and selfless patriotism of the People of Israel and their claims to the Promised Land. Yet there were many critics who doubted Yadin's proof. As Silberman shows, even the most important archaeological discoveries can be interpreted according to one's ideological outlook.The events of Yadin's life offer an extraordinary series of political, military, and archaeological exploits that are closely intertwined - at every stage - with the historic triumphs and tragedies of the Jewish state. Through the use of never-before-published sources, Neil Asher Silberman has crafted a compelling story of Yadin's rise and fall, and of the powerful national ideology he helped create.