Jerusalem: Conflict & Cooperation in a Contested City, edited by Madelaine Adelman and Miriam Fendius Elman.

Jerusalem is one of the most contested urban spaces in the world. It is a multicultural city, but one that is unlike other multiethnic cities such as London, Toronto, Paris, or New York. This book brings together scholars from across the social sciences and the humanities to consider how different disciplinary theories and methods contribute to the study of conflict and cooperation in modern Jerusalem. 

Several essays in the book center on political decision-making; others focus on local and social issues. While Jerusalem's centrality to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is explored, the chapters also cover issues that are unevenly explored in recent studies of the city. These include Jerusalem's diverse communities of secular and orthodox Jewry and Christian Palestinians; religious and political tourism and the "heritage managers" of Jerusalem; the Israeli and Palestinian LGBT community and its experiences in Jerusalem; and visual and textual perspectives on Jerusalem, particularly in architecture and poetry. Adelman and Elman argue that Jerusalem is not solely a place of contention and violence, and that it should be seen as a physical and demographic reality that must function for all its communities.

Rereading Israel: The Spirit of the Matter, by Bonna Devora Haberman.

Rereading Israel: The Spirit of the Matter refreshes current conversations about Israel. This book uses Jewish sources, including the Bible, Mishna and Gemarah, Midrash and Rabbinical thought, to interpret Israel in critical, innovative, and inspiring ways. Rereading Israel presents an opportunity to engage ethically, intellectually, and emotionally -- challenging us to apply our finest resources to grapple honestly and creatively with land and people, history, text, and spirit. Especially when Israel is embattled, this book peels open fruitful and compelling perspectives. 

Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation, by Yossi Klein Halevi.

In Like Dreamers, acclaimed journalist Yossi Klein Halevi interweaves the stories of a group of 1967 paratroopers who reunited Jerusalem, tracing the history of Israel and the divergent ideologies shaping it from the Six-Day War to the present.

Following the lives of seven young members from the 55th Paratroopers Reserve Brigade, the unit responsible for restoring Jewish sovereignty to Jerusalem, Halevi reveals how this band of brothers played pivotal roles in shaping Israel's destiny long after their historic victory. While they worked together to reunite their country in 1967, these men harbored drastically different visions for Israel's future.

Memoirs of A Jewish Extremist: The Story of a Transformation, by Yosi Klein Halevi.

The child of a Holocaust survivor, Yossi Klein Halevi grew up in 1960s Brooklyn perceiving reality through the lens of his family's brutal past. Determined to take action--and seek retribution-he became the disciple of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane and a member of the radical fringe of the American Jewish community. 

In this wry and moving accound, Halevi explores the deep-rooted anger of his adolescence and early adulthood that fueled his militant politics. He reveals how he began to question his beliefs and see the world from his own clear perspective, freeing himself from being a hostage to rage.