October 7th: Searching for the Humanitarian Middle - by Marsha Lederman (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In this emotional missive from the diaspora, Globe and Mail columnist Marsha Lederman writes from the humanitarian middle of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The best-selling and award-winning author and journalist reflects, with deep empathy, on the horrific October 7th attacks on Israeli citizens, rising anti-Semitism, and the brutal violence against civilians in Gaza of the leading Canadian voices on Jewish identity, Lederman's impassioned work in the Globe has been a lifeline for readers since October 7th,2023. This book captures the pain of so many: Marsha's prose has a way of cutting through the noise and capturing the humanity behind the headlines. She makes room for the reader to be conflicted, grieving, angry and unsure, and is with them through that process as she, like all of us, grapples with a new reality. As someone who is firmly against Netanyahu, believes in a two-state solution, and is a daughter of Holocaust survivors terrified by the rise in anti-semitism, Marsha's writing has captured the full complexity of the experience of reconciling an abhorrence of the violence against Israelis and Palestinians with the trauma and fear of rising prejudice around the world ollection is a crucial archive capturing, in real time, a period of deep division with care, empathy, and grief."--

Book Synopsis

A Globe and Mail and Hill Times Best Book of 2025.

In this emotional missive from the diaspora, Globe and Mail columnist Marsha Lederman gathers her columns searching for the humanitarian middle of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Since 2023, the best-selling and award-winning author and journalist has been reflecting, with deep empathy, on the horrific October 7th attacks on Israeli citizens, rising anti-Semitism, and the brutal violence against civilians in Gaza in her column for the Globe and Mail.

As one of the leading Canadian voices on Jewish identity, Lederman's impassioned work in the Globe has been a lifeline for readers since October 7th, 2023. The work collected in this book captures the pain of so many: Marsha's prose has a way of cutting through the noise and capturing the humanity behind the headlines. She makes room for the reader to be conflicted, grieving, angry and unsure, and is with them through that process as she, like all of us, grapples with a new reality.

As someone who is firmly against Netanyahu and firmly in favour of Palestinian rights, believes in a two-state solution, and is a daughter of Holocaust survivors terrified by the rise in anti-Semitism, Marsha's writing has captured the full complexity of the experience of reconciling an abhorrence of the violence against Israelis and Palestinians with the trauma and fear of rising prejudice around the world.

These columns are a contemporaneous look at the year that followed Oct 7th, 2023, reminding us of the pain and confusion. This collection is a crucial archive capturing, in real time, a period of deep division with care, empathy, and grief.

Review Quotes

"Lederman is a model of equanimity."
--Colin Thomas, FRESH SHEET

"Lederman, in October 7th, tries to empathize with the desires, hopes and traumas of both sides. To a remarkable degree, she succeeds. This is a book that should appeal to fair-minded readers."
--Sheldon Kirshner, The Times of Israel

[T]here is no humanitarian middle between what Hamas did on Oct. 7, and what Israel has done in return. There is, though, perhaps a humanitarian middle to be found in how we in Canada speak about our differences on the Middle East and the issue of Palestine and Israel, how we can protest one another without threatening one another. That's what Lederman is advocating." --Christopher Dornan, The Hill Times

About the Author

MARSHA LEDERMAN is a columnist for the Globe and Mail and was previously the Globe's longtime Western Arts Correspondent. Before joining the Globe, Marsha worked for CBC Radio, mostly in Toronto. Born in Toronto, she now lives in Vancouver. Her first book, Kiss the Red Stairs: The Holocaust, Once Removed was a National Bestseller, a Hill Times Best Book of 2022 and a Quill and Quire 2022 Book of the Year. It also won the Cindy Roadburg Memorial Prize at the Western Canada Jewish Book Awards in 2023. She has earned many awards for her writing, including, most recently, the 2024 Max Wyman Award for Critical Writing.