Book dossier

1967

by Tom Segev

From Israel's leading historian, a sweeping history of 1967--the war, what led up to it, what came after, and how it changed everything. Journalist Segev recounts the watershed year when six days of war reshaped the country and the entire region. Going far beyond a military account, Segev re-creates the crisis in Israel before 1967, showing how economic recession, a full grasp of the Holocaust's horrors, and the dire threats made by neighbor states combined to produce a climate of apocalypse. He depicts the country's bravado after its victory, an era of new possibilities and tragic missteps. He introduces Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Gamal Abdul Nasser, and Lyndon Johnson, and an epic cast of soldiers, lobbyists, refugees, and settlers. He reveals Israel's intimacy with the White House and the political rivalries that sabotaged any chance of peace. Above all, describing a series of disastrous miscalculations, he challenges the view that the war was inevitable.--From publisher description.