"More than a lively and perceptive memoir, this reminiscence by Gottlieb Hammer, the man who negotiated the first million-dollar bank loan for the Jewish Agency - American Section, is a compelling account of events preceding the establishment and subsequent development of the State of Israel from 1939 to 1973. In 1945, when the author arranged this loan, it was based solely on the good faith and credit of the American Jewish community ; there was no other collateral. During the next thirty years he negotiated an aggregate total of loans from bands and insurance companies of about one and one-half billion dollars - all based on the same good faith and credit." --from inside jacket flap.