The author approaches the intricate process of nation-building in Israel through an examination of transformations which took place within a major development sector, rural land settlement, during Israel's first decade of statehood. Based on four years of observation in Israel, the study analyzes the ways in which this state worked out the urgent problems that confront a new nation, and demonstrates in vivid ethnographic detail how the policies thus formed made themselves felt in particular communities. The result is a clear picture of the interaction of national planning and the realities...