From: RWERMAN@HUJIVMS.BITNET
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.history
Subject: SEALED ROOM; is this suitable for History?
Date: 13 Aug 92 20:51:00 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU

_NOTES FROM A SEALED ROOM: AN Israeli View of the Gulf War_
Robert Werman
Introduction by Gerald M. Phillips

Southern Illinois University Press
December ISBN 0-8093-1830-X    $24.95
224 pages, 6 x 9 inches


       Let me introduce myself.  I am Robert Werman, MD; I was
trained as physician and a clinical neurologist.  I have taught
at Columbia and Indiana Universities, done research at Cambridge
University and in Canada, Mexico and Japan, as well, and I am now
a professor of neurophysiology at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem.  Although I am American born and educated, I have
chosen to join my fate with that of Israel, and I have lived
there with my family since 1967.  I am also the author of two
books of Hebrew poetry.

       I wrote this book during the Gulf War and sent pieces of
it out to my friends to explain the horrors we were suffering
during the Scud attacks.  It also tells what living in Israel is
like for someone brought up in U.S.  The pieces caught on and
were passed from person to person, spread through the email nets
and from individual to individual and some were even printed in
newspapers, so that it soon reached a very large audience
throughout the world, in places as remote as Japan and India, but
particularly in the U.S.

       The book not only contains the original diary entries but
an introduction by Jerry Phillips, my editor and now my friend,
who describes what the impact of the book was on a reader of the
daily diary entries in one of the email nets.  He also also asked
me, later on, to explain the background of many features of the
reports that were not always obvious to an American reader; these
explanations are also included in the book.

       This is a book addressed to my American compatriots to
help you feel closer to us.  I was worried that the material
would not be of interest coming out so late after the war, but
rereading the book now, it seems to me to be even more pertinent
than before, of even greater interest now.


Here is something others have said about the book:

       "This may be the first such book of its kind, documenting
the development of a a people's news network, uncensored, direct,
almost instantaneous....I found it moving, informative about the
mentality of an engaged, committed person in the midst of a
potential holocaust."
                         -- Norman Itzkowitz, Princton University

                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

       "In this compelling and often startling account, Robert
Werman chronicles his experiences as an Israeli citizen living in
Jerusalem during the Gulf War.  On January 19, 1991, he began
writing daily reports on his computer, sending them to friends
and a few computer networks that dealt with Jewish culture and
the politics of the Middle East.  To Werman's surprise, he
received numerous electronic responses to his entries, sometimes
..[more than] ... one hundred a day.  As a result, his `war
diary' was born, a diary that he continued [with daily entries]
until February 22, 1991, when, near the end of the war, he was
hospitalized for a heart condition.
       "In the early entries, Werman notes each Iraqi Scud
attack, describing in detail the sealed room in which he and his
family sought shelter during the expected chemical attacks.
`Sitting in the antigas room, members of the family try to put on
a brave face, make jokes....Only the dog, a rather stately
collie, sits quietly and does not appear at all excited.  We pity
the dog, for he is the only one without a mask.  But then we
remember that -- without a mask -- he is our canary in the coal
mine.'  Futilely, Werman seeks patterns to the attacks, attempting
to predict when they might occur.  He writes of the nation's
response to war: joggers running with their gas masks in hand,
schools temporarily disbanded while children meet in small groups
to continue their education, city streets emptied by six o'clock
each evening as people wait in their homes for the sound of the
sirens that herald an assault.  He discusses the varying opinions
concerning retaliation against Iraq, the fluctuating morale of
the country, the damage produced by Iraqi missiles, and the
widespread speculation of Israeli citizens concerning their
country's survival.  Yet Werman's daily reports, digressions, and
explanations not only include his observations and impressions;
they also poignantly reveal his own personal story and political,
religious, and philosophical views.
       Werman's journal gives a singular view of a country under
siege, recounting in detail the pressures, conflicts, and dangers
existing during a war.  It is a distinctive book, a fascinating
personal and political account of a man, his family, their
nation, and a war."

                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

       "Bob Werman has a story to tell.  It is an important story
of important events, and he is an important man, not because of
who he is or what he did, but because of his story and his
ability to tell it....Though we all have our stories, few of us
tell them well.  We must honor good storytellers when we find
them, for through them we find meaning in our own stories."
                     -- Gerald M. Phillips, from the Introduction
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU