Israel: the word con­jures so many potent images. A land of chal­lenge and abun­dance, solem­ni­ty and chutz­pah. A vor­tex of ancient rit­u­al and per­sis­tent strife. A spir­i­tu­al home­place. A coun­try of mind-bog­gling cre­ativ­i­ty and enter­prise.

The Desert and the Cities Sing: Dis­cov­er­ing Today’s Israel by Lin Ari­son and Diana C. Stoll is an unprece­dent­ed project: a trea­sure box of four books, each focus­ing on a dif­fer­ent aspect of con­tem­po­rary life and cul­ture in Israel; four relat­ed films; a port­fo­lio of images by award-win­ning pho­tog­ra­ph­er Neil Fol­berg; an ani­mat­ed fea­ture, a map, and much more. Togeth­er, the col­lec­tion pro­vides an expe­ri­ence of Israel that may sur­prise read­ers whose knowl­edge of the coun­try is based sole­ly on front-page news. This unique com­pi­la­tion reveals a vibrant land mov­ing quick­ly into the future.