The Reckoning: Death and Intrigue in the Promised Land

The charismatic mastermind of a series of high-profile terrorist attacks with the goal of attaining Jewish independence and statehood, Avraham Stern was driven by his belief that he was the Jewish liberator of British Palestine. By early 1942 he was the most wanted man in Palestine, forced to take refuge in an attic in Tel Aviv to evade Assistant Superintendent Geoffrey Morton, who was assigned to track him down. Stern’s capture and death have been debated and endlessly contested over the years. The official British report stated that Stern was attempting to escape, and Morton had reason to believe that he had explosives. However, witnesses claimed that it was a cold-blooded murder that precipitated a cult of martyrdom, precluding any possibility of a détente among the British, the Arabs, and the Jews, and inspiring his followers for many years.

The Reckoning chronicles Patrick Bishop’s fascinating quest to uncover the truth about Stern’s ignominious death. Gaining access to Morton’s private archive and interviews with witnesses, Bishop relates a dramatic story that resonates to this very day in one of the world’s most conflicted regions.