Hailed by critics as the definitive, monumental portrait of Israel, Rich Cohen’s refreshing survey is unlike anything you have read about this provocative topic. Offering a comprehensive history --- packed with little-known details and an eye-opening retelling of epic episodes --- alongside polemic-free observations about the concept of Israel, Cohen invites us to set aside political arguments and simply explore Israel’s realities as a place, a symbol, and ultimately an identity. Israel Is Real chronicles an extraordinary evolution, encompassing the destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70 (when a handful of visionaries saved Judaism by shifting the focus from Jerusalem to a holy city of the mind), medieval false prophets such as David Alroy (whom Cohen calls the first superhero, with his tallis as a cape), the rise of Zionism, and the modern-day paradox of Jewish power. Woven throughout is Cohen’s conversational, often wry narrative voice, presenting the myths, the tragedies, the happy endings (real and imagined), and the battlegrounds (physical and ideological) in an informative tour that is sure to spark rich dialogues.