Six Days : How the 1967 War Shaped the Middle East Paperback – July 31, 2004

What a great read, like a thriller at times. The author masterfully weaves a story of global impact with personal stories of heartbreak and horror. Provides real insight into an ongoing struggle that affects us all. Love this book.

Jeremy Bowen, a journalist and foreign correspondent for BBC, describes a detailed and compelling chronicle of the Six-Day War events, whose political and social consequences are still outstanding after more than 45 years.The book with a careful historical analysis - from the foundation, in 1948, of the State of Israel - lets you appreciate the unbiased view of the author describing the characters (both main and minor) and the countries involved.As of June 5, 1967 and for the next five days, Mr. Bowen describes in a journalistic style the military and political events of this war.Of particular interest for both people who already know the facts, wishing to deepen their knowledge, and for those who face - for the first time - this topic looking for the reasons of the current political, economic and social situation the final chapters devoted to the consequences and legacies of this conflict.

Very pleased

Jeremy Bowen's "Six Days" is a brilliant chronicle of the 1967 war and its consequences for the Middle East. It is a curious phenomenon to see the amount of attacks leveled at the book on this page. Most of the one star reviews provide little in the form of facts and documentation to refute Bowen's conclusions, instead their principle source of anguish is the fact that Bowen does not subscribe to statist worship. They want a classic, romantic narrative where tiny, God-chosen Israel slays the Arab menace with only the equally divine United States providing friendship and support. But as real students of history know, real life is something else. "Six Days" cuts through the imposed daydream and with a sharp, exciting prose, documents how the 1967 conflict erupted out of an Israeli government seeking to expand its territory and governments in Syria and Egypt who bit off more than they could chew.Bowen's book reads like an epic as it begins with the partition of Palestine, Israel's war of independence in 1948 and the tragic expulsion of the indigenous Arab population as a result of Israeli land grabbing in conjunction with territorial aspirations of the Jordanian monarchy. With fine details, figures and names, Bowen chronicles how the build up to the 1967 war was a long process involving years of hostilities between both sides as Israel coveted more land and regional governments engaged in provocative actions to keep the newly formed Jewish state on edge. The details of the period are well presented as Bowen takes us into a unique era in the Middle East when secular Arab nationalism was sweeping the region and Nasser's Egypt became a beacon of independence from imperialism, especially after the 1956 French-British-Israeli failed invasion. But as Bowen shows, Nasser also suffered from a need to keep his credentials and image intact which lead to Egypt parading itself as a military might which in fact, it wasn't. Syria, at the time suffering from continuous military coups, was also in the same situation. The conditions were ripe for a confrontation where Israel, having a superior and well-disciplined military force (and a newly-established nuclear program), could easily defeat the Arabs without ever having been under any serious, mortal danger.The details of the Six Day War are well-known, especially Israel's dramatic air assault which decimated Egyptian air defenses, Bowen brilliantly captures it all here and those interested in the history of the conflict will not be disappointed. The book is especially worth reading for its exploration of little known, or little discussed incidents such as the Israeli bombing of the USS Liberty, a US ship where several crewmen died. This remains a highly controversial subject and Bowen presents both sides, was it an accident or a deliberate attack? And why did the US simply brush it under the rug? Most likely because after the war Israel proved it was a highly valuable client state in the region. Bowen also reveals how many of Israel's pretexts for the war were actually not completely honest, Nasser's "blockade" was a joke and was never fully enforced, it was all show to try and keep a macho face in the region. British and US intelligence also knew that Israel faced no mortal danger from its neighbors because of their poor resources and Israel's own superior military capacity. This of course is one reason why reviewers here condemn the book, much in the same way state cultists cannot accept scholarship showing that Iraq never posed a direct threat to the United States in 2003. So why go through the war with Egypt, Syria and Jordan?As Bowen chronicles in "Six Days," the Israelis have always been an expansionist power with certain aims including the annexation of the West Bank, at the time Gaza and other territories were also coveted. Here is the real heart of the book, it shows us how the events of the past have lead to the situations of the present. The Six Day War resulted in Israel establishing itself as the prime military might in the Middle East and birthed the brutal military occupation of the Palestinian territories, not to mention the hotly disputed occupation of Jerusalem. While it crushed its adversaries, Israeli planners took advantage to expand the country's territory through a classic move of conquest. It takes courage to write the kind of honest, direct history that Bowen presents here. Instead of resorting to recycling the typical, doctrinal view, he looks at the facts, at the events, and draws some clear conclusions. This is not a one-sided narrative, Bowen also faults Arab scheming, grandstanding and poor military planning for what happened, but no one can deny that Israel has been occupying territories in actions deemed illegal by the world body which has resulted in decades of violence, hatred and ethnic conflict."Six Days" clarifies the past and clarifies the present, it is brave, vital scholarship which should be read by all serious researchers and those who simply want to know one reason why we are where we are today in the Middle East.

I really enjoyed this book. It sets a timeline for battles in the Six Day War and takes you to each front and to the combattants' capitals. It is very interesting to see how Nassar is communicating the news of the war to his people and how tough the Jordanians truly were. I found it a quick read.

I read this book believing it would give me a neutral perspective on the 1967 Arab Israeli war I should have took more care with my choice and took note of who the author was (a BBC Journalist).The BBC are notorious bias against the Israelis as a result this book is nothing more than another edition in the Insta-book crap collection.If you want to be an independent thinker and form your opinion on the Israeli-Palestine troubles read Michael B Oren's 'Six days of war' (available on Amazon).

Jeremy Bowen has the perspective of those British with "sour grapes". Etzel and the Irgun made it impossible for the British to hold Palestine ending 1947 and the bias against the the Jewish State remains till today especially of those "reporting" from the BBC. This book is not recommended for those wanting an truly unbiased accounting of the war and the aftermath.

His books are filled with lies. If you want fiction, ok read.

Al contrario que muchos otros títulos sobre el tema, éste no compra y vende únicamente la versión isrealí, que se ponen a sí mismos como los buenos y al resto como los malos. Un conflicto buscado, potenciado, y explotado al máximo por Israel, con la insensata connivencia de sus rivales.

The history of the Six days war from the root causes to the consequences. A clear description of the fightings is present even if ti is not a book which deals with the little details of tactics.Some more map and schema could be useful but I found them on internet site and I could read the book with them in front of me rather then move pages back and forth. Hence 5 stars are well deserved.

Excellent, well written overview of the build up to Six Day war, the battles on all fronts and the consequences of the war.As the war trapped my ship in the Great Bitter lake in the Suez Canal, I observed some of the fighting and helped rescue retreating Egyptian soldiers from the banks of the canal - but as radio reports at that time were very misleading it is extremely interesting to get an overall view of how bloody it all was 50 years ago.

Very well written and moves through the whole history of the war in depth and with scrupulous even handed analysis.

Yet again Jeremy Bowen has produced an account of a piece of recent history which has taken its place in the jigsaw of Middle East conflict. Mr Bowen has for many years been one of the outstanding reporters for the BBC and in this book his abilities as an analyst and writer are combined to produce an eminently readable account of this surprising short war. His empathy with, and knowledge of, both sides of the conflict has enabled him to produce an account free from bias or judgement.