The Six-Day War

The Breaking of the Middle East

De: Guy Laron

Narrado por: William Hughes

One fateful week in June 1967 redrew the map of the Middle East. Many scholars have documented how the Six-Day War unfolded, but little has been done to explain why the conflict happened at all. As we approach its 50th anniversary, Guy Laron refutes the widely accepted belief that the war was merely the result of regional friction, revealing the crucial roles played by American and Soviet policies in the face of an encroaching global economic crisis and restoring Syria's often overlooked centrality to events leading up to the hostilities.

The Six-Day War effectively sowed the seeds for the downfall of Arab nationalism, the growth of Islamic extremism, and the animosity between Jews and Palestinians. In this important new work, Laron's fresh interdisciplinary perspective and extensive archival research offer a significant reassessment of a conflict - and the trigger-happy generals behind it - that continues to shape the modern world.

©2017 Guy Laron (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Great Book, Misleading Title

Great information and detail about the political and military background and cause of the Six Day War but not a lot on actual war itself. Still good but if looking for book on the fighting, battles and war itself not the best source.

Laron isn't near as impartial as he thinks he is.

While Laron is confined to only reporting facts (mostly) it is clear that he is personally an anglophone liberal that strongly opposes Israel's foreign policies. Like most western observers Laron knowledge of military concepts is rudimentary at best, especially command and control as he clearly has no concept of the perogatives of theatre and mission commanders.

Also this book is sprinkled with stereotypical thinking about certain groups, particularly the lack of recognition of the differences between the Jewish diaspora and the Israelis, and the belief the generals are hyper-belicose conspiators. Laron openly believes that war and conflict are a product of politicians failing to control the military and that any military action is by necessity unpopular, and Laron seems to realize how narrow that perspective is.

The most obvious fault of Laron is that he always uses words like 'geurrilla' and 'sabotage' instead of 'terrorist' and 'bombing.' And many times Laron uses very specific word choices to imply that Israeli efforts were more brutal than they actually were. Also by continued comparison of terrorists to Vietcong fighters Laron evidently desires these to be viewed the same way, when an entire book could be written about how this is not the case.

Laron shows a typical western reporter's preoccupation with economic issues and national domestic politics. The size of this book shows an thorough Laron was in research so no excuse can be made for these oversights among others.

Prelude to the 6 day war

The title should more accurately reflect that this is about the prelude to the 6 day war. Very little time is spent on the conflict itself