Few knew him by his full name, Amihai Paglin. Everyone called him “Gidi.” His name became a legend. He appeared suddenly, like a shooting star, out of the looming storm clouds of the Jewish war for independence in Palestine – Eretz Israel. He turned the Irgun Zvai Leumi into a formidable fighting machine, striking at the British without pause and without mercy – and 100,000 military and police personnel could find no effective response. This riveting, fast-paced biography traces Amihai Paglin’s rise through the ranks of the IZL, and describes in detail the military operations that ultimately led to the British evacuation from Palestine. Packed with first-person interviews with those who made this history, and meticulously researched in the archives of the period, here is the full story of the bombing of the King David Hotel, the conquest of Jaffa, and more, told from the perspective of an insider.