In 1902 noted Zionist Theodor Herzl wrote a book entitled The Old New Land, speculating what a Jewish-colonized Palestine would look like in the then-future 1920s. Long story short, it's run in a quasi-socialist manner with democratic businesses and labor cooperatives, and with Jews, Arabs, and others living in harmony.
It was a very influential book in the Zionist movement, and became a big inspiration for the foundation of the modern Israeli state. The novel is a namesake of an Israeli city; The Old New Land in Hebrew is 'Tel Aviv.'
I feel like there's so much untapped potential here for alternate historians. In particular, there's a bit in which one Jewish character speculates about bringing this version of civilization to Africa, which feels ripe for deconstruction.
A side note: I learned of this book in the introduction to Zion's Fiction: a Treasury of Israeli Speculative Literature, edited by Emanuel Lottem and Sheldon Teitelbaum. The introduction traces a history of Jewish speculative literature and characterizes The Old New Land as science fiction, and therefore argues that Israel is the 'science fiction country,' and therefore it's natural that the country has produced so much science fiction and fantasy (with the unspoken next step that you should read their anthology).
It was a very influential book in the Zionist movement, and became a big inspiration for the foundation of the modern Israeli state. The novel is a namesake of an Israeli city; The Old New Land in Hebrew is 'Tel Aviv.'
I feel like there's so much untapped potential here for alternate historians. In particular, there's a bit in which one Jewish character speculates about bringing this version of civilization to Africa, which feels ripe for deconstruction.
A side note: I learned of this book in the introduction to Zion's Fiction: a Treasury of Israeli Speculative Literature, edited by Emanuel Lottem and Sheldon Teitelbaum. The introduction traces a history of Jewish speculative literature and characterizes The Old New Land as science fiction, and therefore argues that Israel is the 'science fiction country,' and therefore it's natural that the country has produced so much science fiction and fantasy (with the unspoken next step that you should read their anthology).