In the Belly of the Whale: Portraits from a Fractured Israel
Ruth Margalit
Sep 2026 · Steerforth
Ebook
272
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About this ebook
“Margalit is one of those rare, dogged reporters who renders real lives with the subtle beauty and pain of fiction. Her portrait of Israeli society is intimate, humane, and haunting. Future generations must read this book to understand the time in which we lived.” — Evan Osnos, author of The Haves and Have-Yachts
For more than a decade, Ruth Margalit has been chronicling life in contemporary Israeli for The New Yorker and the New York Times magazine as the country has embraced right-wing extremism under Benjamin Netanyahu. Here she collects 11 of her profiles of wide-ranging figures from across society, returning to consider and update them from her current reality as a writer and mother living in Tel Aviv at a time of war.
To live in Israel today, Margalit writes, is to be either a whale or a Jonah—trying to make do in the belly of the whale. Her profiles of Israelis from all strata of society represent both: outsiders trying to make a life in a system designed against them, and insiders hatching plans and amassing power all while riding the twin waves of populism and jingoism.
Richly reported and animated by a novelist’s eye for detail and drama, Margalit’s writing is distinguished by its political acuity and narrative sweep. Kaleidoscopic in scope and poignant in its portrait of a country in turmoil, In the Belly of the Whale traces an unforgettable journey through present-day Israel, illuminating realities that can seem inscrutable even to the keenest observers.
For more than a decade, Ruth Margalit has been chronicling life in contemporary Israeli for The New Yorker and the New York Times magazine as the country has embraced right-wing extremism under Benjamin Netanyahu. Here she collects 11 of her profiles of wide-ranging figures from across society, returning to consider and update them from her current reality as a writer and mother living in Tel Aviv at a time of war.
To live in Israel today, Margalit writes, is to be either a whale or a Jonah—trying to make do in the belly of the whale. Her profiles of Israelis from all strata of society represent both: outsiders trying to make a life in a system designed against them, and insiders hatching plans and amassing power all while riding the twin waves of populism and jingoism.
Richly reported and animated by a novelist’s eye for detail and drama, Margalit’s writing is distinguished by its political acuity and narrative sweep. Kaleidoscopic in scope and poignant in its portrait of a country in turmoil, In the Belly of the Whale traces an unforgettable journey through present-day Israel, illuminating realities that can seem inscrutable even to the keenest observers.
“Margalit is one of those rare, dogged reporters who renders real lives with the subtle beauty and pain of fiction. Her portrait of Israeli society is intimate, humane, and haunting. Future generations must read this book to understand the time in which we lived.” — Evan Osnos, author of The Have...
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About the author
Ruth Margalit is a Tel Aviv-based journalist and a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine. Her writing regularly appears in the pages of The New Yorker, where she was a member of the editorial staff, and her book reviews and essays are frequently featured in the New York Review of Books. She has also written for the New York Times Book Review, the New Republic, Slate, Bookforum, the Columbia Journalism Review, Haaretz, and elsewhere. She is a graduate of Tel Aviv University and has a master's degree from Columbia University's School of Journalism. Raised in Jerusalem, she lived in New York between 2010-2019, before moving back to Israel with her family. She is the author of a children's book in Hebrew (2025).
Ruth Margalit is a Tel Aviv-based journalist and a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine. Her writing regularly appears in the pages of The New Yorker, where she was a member of the editorial staff, and her book reviews and essays are frequently featured in the New York Review of Bo...
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