This volume takes up Near's narrative account of the history of the kibbutz movement from the outbreak of the Second World War. He considers the effects of the war and the holocaust on the kibbutzim and their youth movements; the political struggles which led to the end of the British Mandate; the War of Independence; including the role of the Palmach and the political controversy it engendered; the crises which followed the establishment of the State of Israel and the politics of the kibbutz movement in the early years of independence; and the kibbutzim's gradual adaptation of their new position in Israeli society and the challenges of a multi-generational society in the late twentieth century.
