Special Relationship: The Great Repair and The Strained Alliance
Join us for an evening of discussion on two important new books that speak not only to the history of Israel, Germany, and the United States, but also to the political and moral dilemmas thrown into sharp relief since October 7.
Gideon Reuveni’s The Great Repair: Emotions, Memory, and the German-Jewish Settlement after the Holocaust (2026) examines the reparations negotiations between Jews and Germans less than seven years after the Holocaust, tracing the political, moral, and emotional tensions that shaped one of the most consequential postwar settlements.
David Tal’s The Strained Alliance: George H. W. Bush, Yitzhak Shamir, and the US–Israel Special Relationship (2025) revisits a pivotal moment in US-Israel relations, showing how close partnership and serious political disagreement coexisted at the end of the Cold War.
Taken together, these books open a timely conversation about reparations, diplomacy, historical responsibility, and the making of political alliances. In the aftermath of October 7, questions of memory, legitimacy, security, and international responsibility have returned to the centre of public debate with renewed urgency. Both books offer historical depth to these discussions, reminding us that today’s crises are shaped by older arguments about justice, statehood, alliance, and the unresolved legacies of the post-1945 order.
Chaired by author and journalist Edmund Fawcett, this event will bring the authors into conversation about how the past continues to structure the present, and why history remains indispensable for understanding the conflicts and moral challenges of our own time.