Those were the years... presents the full story of the state of israel's first fifty years, from its establishment until 1997. Year by year, the drama of israel's history is analyzed and studied: the main events in politics, defense, the arts, sports and everyday life. The texts are accompanied by authentic pictures taken by the best photographers. The jewel in the crown of this book consists of 50 articles - one for each year - discussing the most significent event or person of that year. The articles were written by israel's leading writers, poets, philosophers, politicians, statesmen, military commanders, journalists and media personalities. The story of israel's first fifty years is the most exciting, dramatic and fascinating one of the twentieth century. This may be hard for israelis to understand and appreciate, as they live through these things and are too close to them. It is a sad and painful story at times, but always interesting and inspiring.