{{Short description|2019 book by Matti Friedman}} {{Infobox book | image = Spies of No Country.jpg | author = [[Matti Friedman]] | pub_date = March 2019 | caption = First edition | publisher = [[Algonquin Books]] | name = Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel }} {{italic title}} '''''Spies of No Country''': Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel'' is a book by [[Matti Friedman]] published in March 2019.<ref name="MeyerComplexity">{{cite news |last1=Meyer |first1=Lily |title='Spies Of No Country' Offers Nuanced Understanding Of Israel's Complexity |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/03/07/700969374/spies-of-no-country-offers-nuanced-understanding-of-israels-complexity?t=1553581693675 |accessdate=26 March 2019 |publisher=National Public Radio |date=7 March 2019}}</ref><ref name="ShapiraIsrael">{{cite news |last1=Shapira |first1=Ian |title=The Arab-born spies who served the young state of Israel |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-arab-born-spies-who-served-the-young-state-of-israel/2019/03/22/181fc478-443e-11e9-90f0-0ccfeec87a61_story.html |accessdate=26 March 2019 |work=Washington Post |date=22 March 2019}}</ref><ref name="HoffmanReview">{{cite news |last1=Hoffman |first1=Ari |title=Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel (book review) |url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/spies-of-no-country-secret-lives-at-the-birth-of-israel |accessdate=27 January 2019 |publisher=[[Jewish Book Council]]}}</ref><ref name="KirkusReview">{{cite news |title=Kirkus Review |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/matti-friedman/spies-of-no-country/ |accessdate=28 January 2019 |publisher=Kirkus |date=11 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-61620-722-9|title=Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel|date=January 10, 2019|website=Publishers Weekly|access-date=March 4, 2019}}</ref><ref name="KosnerReview">{{cite news |last1=Kosner |first1=Edward |title='Spies of No Country' Review: The Dawn of Mossad (book review) |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/spies-of-no-country-review-the-dawn-of-mossad-11551740915 |accessdate=9 March 2019 |publisher=Wall Street Journal |date=4 March 2019}}</ref><ref name="BascombArabs">{{cite news |last1=Bascomb |first1=Neal |title=The Jewish Spies Who Posed as Arabs |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/books/review/matti-friedman-spies-of-no-country.html |accessdate=26 March 2019 |work=New York Times |date=22 March 2019}}</ref>
''Spies of No Country'' is about a pre-independence Zionist intelligence unit, the "Arab Section," that operated inside the territory of the French [[Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon]] towards the end of the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate for Palestine]].<ref name="MeyerComplexity"/>
==Synopsis== ''Spies'' is the story of four [[Mizrachi Jews|Mizrachi]] men.<ref name="MeyerComplexity"/> They were not related to one another despite the fact that three of them shared a surname. They were [[Gamliel Cohen]] and [[Isaac Shoshan]], who grew up in [[Syria]], [[Havakuk Cohen]] from [[Yemen]], [[Yakuba Cohen]], from Palestine.<ref name="MeyerComplexity"/><ref name="ShapiraIsrael"/> All four were native Arabic speakers.<ref name="MeyerComplexity"/> They operated as ''[[mista'arvim]]'', "Ones Who Become Like Arabs," but Friedman raises an interesting question, "They were native to the Arab world," Friedman writes, "as native as Arabs. If the key to belonging to the Arabic nation was the Arabic language, as the Arab nationalists claimed, they were inside. So were they really...pretending to be Arabs, or were they pretending to be people who weren't Arabs pretending to be Arabs?"<ref name="MeyerComplexity"/>
==Reception== Lily Meyer, reviewing the book for [[National Public Radio]], called ''Spies'' "an important book (because) Americans are not accustomed to hearing about Israel's complexity, or its diversity. We are rarely asked to consider Israel as a country that is, as Friedman says, 'more than one thing.'"<ref name="MeyerComplexity"/>
Bill Gladstone wrote that "In lesser hands, this story might not be capable of sustaining the interest of readers through more than 200 pages, but Friedman is a natural-born storyteller whose simple but compelling language, and level of insight and sensitivity, seem to anticipate and settle questions in the readers’ minds even before they arise." For example, early in the book Friedman writes that, "“The unwritten rules of espionage writing seem to require a claim that the subjects altered the very course of history, or at least of their war... This is tempting but rarely true, I suspect, and it isn’t true in the case of our spies, though their contribution to the war was significant. Their mission didn’t culminate in a dramatic explosion that averted disaster, or in the solution of a devious puzzle. Their importance to history lies instead in what they turned out to be – the embryo of one of the world’s most formidable intelligence services [the [[Mossad]]]...”<ref name="GladstoneStoryteller">{{cite news |last1=Gladstone |first1=Bill |title=Matti Friedman is a natural-born storyteller |url=https://www.cjnews.com/culture/books-and-authors/matti-friedman-is-a-natural-born-storyteller |accessdate=26 March 2019 |publisher=Canadian Jewish News |date=18 March 2019}}</ref>
In a review published in ''[[The Forward]]'', Raphael Magarik noted that Friedman repeated Israeli propaganda throughout the book, overlooked evidence that did not support his argument, and misrepresented events. He nevertheless praised Friedman's storytelling.<ref>{{cite news|last=Magarik|first=Raphael|title=A Thrilling Israeli Spy Story, But Is It Accurate? Or Moral?|url=https://forward.com/culture/books/420586/matti-friedman-spies-of-no-country-review/|website=Forward.com|accessdate=26 November 2019|date=8 March 2019}}</ref>
==Awards== ''Spies of No Country'' won the 2018, pre-publication, $25,000 Nathan Book Award, a prize given by the Nathan Fund in conjunction with the [[Jewish Book Council]] to support the work of a writer whose book has not yet been published.<ref name="NathanFinalist">{{cite news |title=Natan Announces 2018 Natan Book Award Winner and Finalists |url=http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/natan-announces-2018-natan-book-award-winner-and-finalists/ |accessdate=28 January 2019 |publisher=ejewishphilanthropy.com |date=15 November 2017}}</ref>
In 2020, the book won the [[Vine Awards for Canadian Jewish Literature|vine awards for canadian jewish literature]] for history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Koffler Centre of the Arts - Past Shortlists & Winners |url=https://kofflerarts.org/Events/Vine-Awards/Winners/Past-Shortlists-Winners |access-date=2023-12-26 |website=kofflerarts.org}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
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[[Category:2019 non-fiction books]] [[Category:English-language non-fiction books]] [[Category:Books about Israel]] [[Category:Canadian non-fiction books]] [[Category:Books about the Arab–Israeli conflict]] [[Category:Books about Israeli intelligence agencies]] [[Category:Algonquin Books books]]