NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The first comprehensive account of the epoch-making Six-Day War, from the author of Ally-now featuring a fiftieth-anniversary retrospective

Though it lasted for only six tense days in June, the 1967 Arab-Israeli war never really ended. Every crisis that has ripped through this region in the ensuing decades, from the Yom Kippur War of 1973 to the ongoing intifada, is a direct consequence of those six days of fighting.

Writing with a novelist’s command of narrative and a historian’s grasp of fact and motive, Michael B. Oren reconstructs both the lightning-fast action on the battlefields and the political shocks that electrified the world. Extraordinary personalities-Moshe Dayan and Gamal Abdul Nasser, Lyndon Johnson and Alexei Kosygin-rose and toppled from power as a result of this war; borders were redrawn; daring strategies brilliantly succeeded or disastrously failed in a matter of hours. And the balance of power changed-in the Middle East and in the world. A towering work of history and an enthralling human narrative, Six Days of War is the most important book on the Middle East conflict to appear in a generation.

Praise for Six Days of War

Powerful … A highly readable, even gripping account of the 1967 conflict … [Oren] has woven a seamless narrative out of a staggering variety of diplomatic and military strands. -The New York Times

With a remarkably assured style, Oren elucidates nearly every aspect of the conflict… . Oren’s [book] will remain the authoritative chronicle of the war. His achievement as a writer and a historian is awesome. -The Atlantic Monthly

This is not only the best book so far written on the six-day war, it is likely to remain the best. -The Washington Post Book World

Phenomenal … breathtaking history … a profoundly talented writer… .

This book is not only one of the best books on this critical episode in Middle East history; it’s one of the best-written books I’ve read this year, in any genre. -The Jerusalem Post

[In] Michael Oren’s richly detailed and lucid account, the familiar story is thrilling once again… . What makes this book important is the breadth and depth of the research. -The New York Times Book Review

A first-rate new account of the conflict. -The Washington Post

The definitive history of the Six-Day War … [Oren’s] narrative is precise but written with great literary flair. In no one else’s study is there more understanding or more surprise. -Martin Peretz, Publisher, The New Republic

Compelling, perhaps even vital, reading. -San Jose Mercury News