This is the first in-depth account of the later years of David Ben-Gurion (1886 1973), Israel s first Prime Minister and founding father. One of the first to sign Israel s declaration of independence and a leading figure in Zionism, Ben-Gurion stepped down from office in 1963 and retired from political life in 1970, deeply disappointed about the path on which the state had embarked and the process that brought about the end of his political career. He moved to a kibbutz in the Negev desert, where he lived until his death. Robbed of the public aura that had wrapped him for decades, his...