Sharon

If you didn't know that this biography of Israeli general and political leader Ariel Sharon is read by Rich Topol, you'd swear it's Sharon's son, Gilad Sharon, doing the narration. The book is written in the first person and draws heavily on the elder Sharon's personal letters and documents. Topol offers a solid, even intimate, reading. When he says "I"--whether it's the author's spoken words or a quotation from a letter--the listener will get the feeling it is Sharon the younger or elder who is speaking. Bringing to life a book that portrays the man in a personal way, Topol's conversational tone carries the listener along. He differentiates mood by raising his pitch slightly during light family-oriented passages and slowing the pace down significantly--almost to the extent of pausing between each word--during especially emotional ones, such as when the author writes about terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens. R.C.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

October 31, 2011
Israeli columnist Sharon draws on a unique set of family and documentary sources (including personal diaries) to tell the story of his father, one of Israel's great political and military leaders. Born in 1928 and struck down in early 2006 while working on Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, Sharon's life and battles paralleled those of his country. He was close to David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister, who supported his military career in the 1950s, and to the eventual Oslo accord peace-maker Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister after the 1973 war, under whom Sharon served as security adviser. In 1977, he helped found the Likud Party to break the political mold of Israeli politics, and was prepared to launch such an effort again in 2006 with Kadima. His blunt views of the Israeli political and military leaders with whom he served make for surprising reading, and his disagreements with Israel's political command receive attention here. The biography vividly delineates the qualities a leader needs to excel today.