Penguin Speakers Bureau
Biography
Ronald Florence is a historian and novelist. Educated at Berkeley and Harvard, where he received a PhD in French and German history, he has written on the Gypsy holocaust, the Damascus Affair “blood libel” accusations against Jews, the building of the great Palomar telescopes, political assassinati …
Read moreRonald Florence is a historian and novelist. Educated at Berkeley and Harvard, where he received a PhD in French and German history, he has written on the Gypsy holocaust, the Damascus Affair “blood libel” accusations against Jews, the building of the great Palomar telescopes, political assassinations, Marxist women, and most recently, the tangled origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Before turning to full-time writing, he taught at Harvard, Sarah Lawrence College, and SUNY; was a senior researcher at the Century Foundation; and was executive director of the New York Council for the Humanities. He travels extensively in Europe and the Middle East to research his books, including recent visits to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Turkey for his newest book, LAWRENCE AND AARONSOHN: T.E. Lawrence, Aaron Aaronsohn and the Seeds of the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
Before moving to Providence, Rhode Island, he raised Cotswold sheep in Stonington, Connecticut.
Check out Ronald’s website at http://ron.18james.com.
Speaking Topics
- The Seeds of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
How a “perfect storm” of premature nationalism, aspirations toward statehood, imperial and economic claims, a collapsing empire, an unwanted war, and ambitious and inspired individuals like T.E. Lawrence and Aaron Aaronsohn provided a “field of dreams” for the seeds of the world’s longest and seemingly most insoluble conflict.
Featured Book
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LAWRENCE AND AARONSOHN
"...a highly readable and thoroughly enjoyable apercu into two extraordinary personalities who played a dramatic role in the emergence of modern Israel." —author Howard M. Sachar
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