The Jewish State

About this book

The work is a political pamphlet by Theodor Herzl, first issued in Vienna in 1896 as Der Judenstaat and later translated into English. The opening pages present a detailed bibliographic history, noting the 1946 American Zionist Emergency Council edition and its lineage through several revisions and translations. An introductory essay by Louis Lipsky frames Herz Herzl as the first Jew to cast the “Jewish question” as an international problem, describing how his 1890s journalism in Paris and Vienna led to a “restless agitation” that produced the pamphlet. The text then moves into a biography by Alex Bein, followed by Herzl’s own exposition, organized into six sections that trace the problem, propose a “Jewish Company,” and outline a vision for a sovereign Jewish state.

Herzl’s voice is that of a late‑Victorian journalist‑turned‑activist, combining polemical vigor with a systematic, almost bureaucratic style. The language reflects the era’s earnest reformist tone, peppered with references to contemporary anti‑Semitism, Zionist societies, and diplomatic overtures. Readers interested in the origins of modern Zionism, the history of political thought on nation‑building, or the cultural climate of late‑19th‑century Europe will find this document a compelling primary source that illuminates the intellectual and practical foundations of the movement.