My Life.

"We do not rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown and when strawberries bloom in Israel": First Edition of Golda Meir's My Life; Inscribed by Her to First Lady Nancy Reagan

My Life.

MEIR, Golda.

Item Number: 96151

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1975.

First edition of Meir’s autobiography. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the dedication page to First Lady Nancy Reagan, “To dearest Nancy, thinking of you Golda.” In 1969 and the early 1970s, Meir met with many world leaders to promote her vision of peace in the Middle East, including Richard Nixon (1969), Nicolae Ceaușescu (1972) and Pope Paul VI (1973). Ronald Reagan introduced Meir at a banquet given by the Jewish community at Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on October 1st 1969, while serving as California’s 33rd Governor, which is likely where Nancy and Meir’s friendship began. Near fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket design by Cheryl Asherman. An exceptional association.

Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel on March 17, 1969, after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister. Israel's first and the world's third woman to hold such an office, she was described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics years before the epithet became associated with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion used to call Meir "the best man in the government"; she was often portrayed as the "strong-willed, straight-talking, grey-bunned grandmother of the Jewish people." My Life is "both frank and very revealing of her personality and goals. Her total lack of pretense is especially winning. Meir's practical idealism can be seen in efforts as diverse as the beautification of kibbutzim and her strong advocacy of unemployment benefits. The work that 'most concerned and interested me,' she writes, was 'the translation of socialist principles into the down-to-earth terminology of everyday life.' Although the political events narrated are well known they are recounted with drama and spirit. Don't mistake this for just chicken soup with riposte-noodles: it's a model of its kind and a sure crowd-pleaser" (Kirkus Reviews).

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