Of Ehud Olmert, Sharon's successor as Israel's prime minister, Gilad writes: "I know that my father did not for a moment believe that Olmert would replace him or that he was worthy of the role. . . . Olmert is a shrewd individual, but his main problem, in my opinion, is that he preferred his own good over the country's."

Of Ehud Barak, currently Israel's defense minister, Gilad writes (I think unfairly): "Barak is known as a man who can disassemble watches . . . Perhaps he is even capable of putting some of the parts back. But he can't tell the time, [he] is completely incapable of looking beyond the details and seeing the larger picture."

There is much that will hold the reader's attention in Gilad Sharon's biography, but we must look elsewhere for fare that goes beyond haphazard recollection and pithy reflections. No doubt more penetrating and more enlightening biographies are on the way.

Benny Morris is a professor of history in the Middle East Studies Department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. His most recent book is One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict (Yale University Press, 2009).

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