This link provides a sample of letters that capture the spirit of the new country from the book "Letters from Jerusalem, 1947-1948" by Zipporah Porath, a young American woman who came to study in Jerusalem in 1947 and ultimately served in the Hagana during the War of Independence. Throughout the war, she wrote letters to her family, which provide an eyewitness account of Israel's birth, as well as her impressions and feelings of these events. To read her biography, click here.