The Hope was published by Little, Brown in 1993 and represents Wouk’s application of the Winds of War formula — fictional characters at the intersection of actual historical events — to the history of Israel. The novel covers the period from 1948 (the War of Independence) through 1967 (the Six-Day War), following four Israeli military families whose stories intersect with the major events and figures of Israel’s first two decades.
Wouk’s research is characteristically thorough: he spent years in Israel interviewing military officers, politicians, and ordinary citizens, and the novel’s depiction of Israeli military operations — the desperate improvisation of 1948, the Sinai campaign of 1956, the brilliant planning of 1967 — has the authority of informed military history. Real figures (Ben-Gurion, Dayan, Rabin) appear alongside the fictional characters, and the blend of fact and fiction is skillfully managed.
The novel’s perspective is unambiguously Zionist — Wouk sees the establishment of Israel as the great achievement of Jewish history, and the novel celebrates Israeli courage, ingenuity, and dedication without significant qualification. This makes the book less morally complex than his war novels (where the American cause is taken for granted but individual moral questions remain agonizing) but gives it a narrative energy driven by conviction. The novel was followed by The Glory (1994), covering 1967–1982.
Collecting The Hope
First edition (Little, Brown, Boston, 1993): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition in dust jacket: $10–$25
- Without jacket: $5–$10