When Sarah Glidden took a "Birthright Israel" tour, she thought she knew what she was getting herself into. But when she got to Israel, she found that things werenrs"t quite so simple. HOW TO UNDERSTAND ISRAEL is Sarahrs"s memoir not only of her Israeli governmentsponsored trip through Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Masada and other famous locations, but of the emotional journey she never expected to take while she was there. Her experience clashes with her preconceived notions again and again, particularly when she tries to take a non-chaperoned trip into the West Bank. Sarah is forced to question fi rst her political beliefs and, ultimately, her own sense of identity, until she fi nds that to understand Israel she fi rst must come to understand herself.