Stop Doomscrolling About Israel and Palestine—Read These Books Instead

The Atlantic’s books editor prescribes these titles as antidotes to the quick and dirty ways people are communicating on social media.

By Gal Beckerman

The Israeli author Etgar Keret’s fantastical, funny, and very short stories have long offered insight into the anxieties that simmer in his own society. We spoke a couple of days ago, and Keret told me that in the past three weeks since the war began between Israel and Hamas, he has been turning to more ephemeral forms of writing, even shorter than his usual work. He calls them “war notes”: short thoughts, observations, and outlines of stories jotted down quickly, as if meant to be shoved deep in a pocket or thrown away. This reflex—to process the violence and the emotion it provokes through writing—is well established when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many, many bookshelves could be filled with works that either explain the modern history of the region or offer an individual entry point into what living through such daily tension and pain has felt like. Without attempting to be comprehensive or authoritative—a fool’s errand if there ever was one—I thought I would suggest just a few of my own favorites. At the very least, I prescribe these titles as antidotes to the quick and dirty ways people are communicating about the war on social media. Read the full piece at The Atlantic.