Rating: 
Summary: Well Researched, but a Bit Dry
Review: Michael B. Oren bends over backward in "Six Days of War" to be an unbiased and objective reporter. He succeeds in the attempt, though perhaps a bit too well. His book is well researched and very balanced, showing the good and bad of both sides in what is the most important military engagement since World War Two (at least in terms of its lasting repercussions). Oren meticuously documents the factors that led up to the war, paints portraits of the major political and military figures, and then lays out a day by day account of the battles.The book's one drawback is that it is a bit dry at times. Perhaps because Oren was being so careful to avoid anything that could be remotely interpreted as opinion, his writing lacks the narrative force that has marked the best works of recent historical writing. Nevertheless, he has produced a very thorough account that covers all aspects of the war. In light of recent developments in the Middle East, understanding what happened that fateful June more than 35 years ago has taken on even more importancance. Overall, a thorough and complete history of the six day war that will appeal most strongly to military and Middle East history buffs.
Rating: 
Summary: Read this Book
Review: This book is terrific. Even if you already know "all about" the 6-day war...this book has more information, presented in a serious fashion - but with the readibility of a historical thriller. If you don't know much about the 6-day war - read this book as soon as you can. It is balanced, nuanced and filled with very interesting information and details.
Rating:
Summary: Six Days of Amazing Reading
Review: Easily the best written, most detailed account of an Arab-Israeli war that I have ever read. Michael Oren does a phenomenal job of describing how and why the war happened, something I'd never been clear on, and in a very precise and detailed way provides a thrilling, frame-by-frame account of both the military and political machinations going on on both sides. Fascinating!! Oren's style of writing is easy to read and I believe most people will have a hard time putting this book down. I also found it to be a very even-handed account, I would think that even Arab sympathizers should also be able to see this even as Oren reveals the absolutely shameful and fumbling ineptitude of the Arab leadership at the time. Any teacher or professor of Middle Eastern studies would be wise to make this book required reading as part of their course materials.
Rating:
Summary: Meticulously researched, highly readable
Review: This book sets a new standard for political histories, combining archives in Israel, Egypt, Jordan, the USSR, the US, and the UN to give a detailed account of the six-day-war from the perspectives of all participants. Syria is represented to a lesser extent, probably because the state is simply not open with its material. It is still mysterious (1) why Syria held back its troops after Israel initiated the war with Egypt, (2) why Israeli aerial photos showed troop evacuations from the Golan on the fourth day of the war, and (3) why the Golan fell so readily when every factor seemed to favor the Syrians. There is still a book to be written if the Syrian archives are ever available. Oren can't be faulted for what he can't get, though. The book does a superb job of analyzing the motives and events of the war. His level of access to the Egyptian sources is stunning -- I had a whole new picture of Nasser by the end of the book. Oren writes with precision and nuance, and he understands the political angles. Deliberations in Egypt, Israel, the UN, and Jordan are recounted in a blow-by-blow that really opens up the implications of each decision. Though the book is packed with information, it's not overloaded. This is a top-quality book, one that will keep you up at night reading it. Contrary to the impression some reviewers have given, this is not an Israeli-biased whitewash. Oren is clear that the Syrian front was opened largely for purposes of expansionism (to secure Jordan headwaters as much as to silence gun emplacements), and that though the Israeli command was more organized than the DAR's, important decisions, like the decisions to sieze east Jerusalem, to take the west bank, and to take the Golan were arbitrarily made on the spot in disregard for the chain of command. In the UN, Israel uses every tactic to stall for time, proposing false peace initiatives and conducting false diplomacy as a cover siezing as much territory as possible. On the other hand, on the question of who started the war, Oren is equally clear that Egypt was moving to attack, and in fact had issued attack orders already. The Israeli move was preemptive. The writing is strongest at the political and strategic level, and weakest at the tactical level. Some fighting operations are just confusing as written. And unless you happen to know where the Latrun Corridor and Tel Azzaziat are, you'd best have a political atlas of the Middle East handy. The confusing bits are rare, though, and the outcome of each action is clearly presented. I wouldn't even knock off a star for this. The book's footnotes deserve special recognition. EVERY point of fact that I wanted to source was documented. This is excellent history, and raises the bar for the entire field. I'd BEG for a book of this quality on Israel's most problematic war: Lebanon.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic! Enlightening! Fair and balanced! Timely!
Review: The 1967 Middle East War - known as "The Six Day War" by most Western's and known as "The June War", "The Setback" or "The Disaster" by Arabs - is still considered to be unfinished business to many Arab and Muslims around the World to this very day. Michael B. Oren did a superb job of telling the story in a logical manner - beginning with "setting the context for the war", "the catalyst", and then a "day-by-day blow-by-blow re-telling of the fastest war in history to that date. There are non-stop anecdotes (from both the Israeli and Arab point of views) which made the story much more absorbing. Michael is Jewish, but did the best he could to remain unbias. I would imagine that pro-Arab readers will experience this book very much like an American would experience a re-telling of Vietnam - mistake after mistake (both political and military) that cost the lives of men willing to die for their country. However, pro-Arabs readers will find direct (and quite candid) quotes of many Arabs (politicians and military) involved in the conflict. If the story is at all bias - it can be attributed to the fact that the Arab nations have NOT de-classified (and probably never will) the occurances leading-up-to, during, and following those six fateful days in June 1967. Michael had to piece together the story from the sources available to him. I could not put this book down. I read it in four nights. I am 32 and was not even alive during this war and wanted to know more than simply "Israel won." This book helped me understand the "why, when, how, & who" that I never knew. Did you know that most of the Israeli arms and ALL of the air force fighters were provided by France? Did you know that America bent over backward NOT siding with Israel so as not to damage our standing with the Arab community? Did you know that Nasser (Egyptian President) - when in Day 2 he realized that Israel had already destroyed 60% of his air force - lied and told the Arab World that America had directly helped Israel? Buy this book, read it thoroughly, and talk to people about it! Great job Michael!
Rating:
Summary: Six Days of War, 35 Years of Terror
Review: For anyone who wants to know how the Middle East got to be so awful, this book is a must-read. Critical of both sides, yet sympathetic to the plight of the Israelis, Six Days of War is simply the finest history of the war yet written.
Rating:
Summary: Concise and Readable
Review: This is an excellent short study of the Six Day War. It is engrossing enough that one needn't be a history buff or Middle East expert to enjoy it. Oren devotes more space to military rather than diplomatic aspects of the war, but one can't expect both fields, not to mention internal politics, to be completely covered in such a short book. Oren attempts to be as balanced as possible in his narrative, and he is so successful that he seems almost detached for the most part. Perhaps he realized that he didn't need a blatant presentation of moral judgments. While in his account the Israelis were not completely free of guile and scheming, the Arabs discredited themselves in almost every way. I suspect it will be difficult even for someone well-disposed to the Arabs' cause to regard with equanimity the lies, self-deception, and savagery their leaders practiced to their own detriment. The reader will likely lament that no encouragement for the future can be drawn from this excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: read this and understand
Review: for any person who needs to see through the simplified media approach to the Middle East and get a grip on the how and why of the issues, this is the book. The writing is clear, riveting and cuts through the morass of misinformation that floods the modern day journalism. It has thorough explanations of the confusion that leads to war, and moment by moment descriptions of the battles of the war of 1967. highest recommendation. read the book. and weep.
Rating:
Summary: The Finest Book on the 1967 War
Review: Michael Oren's Six Days of War is one of the most exhaustively, minutely researched books I have ever read, a most flattering remark if one takes into account the innate investigative difficulties of the matter at hand. Objective, straightforward and an easy read, the book nevertheless leaves the spirit wanting for more strategic and tactical detail and for many more pages to read. It is that good. The history-conscious reader will go beyond the common analogy of tiny Greece versus the Persian empire to find interesting parallels with the 1936 Spanish Civil War in the sanctimoniously neutral behavior of the three Western powers, always ready to put pressure on Israel to accept Arab demands by negating her the most basic armaments, as opposed to the massive rearming of Egypt and Syria by the Soviets before, during and immediately after the war. In fact, Israel was able to maintain parity with Egypt only because of the unbelievably large amounts of untouched war material abandoned by Egyptians, Syrians and Jordanians while retreating. There are even parallels with Europe in 1914, the Arab leadership making miscalculations just as big as those of Austria. Some of these miscalculations, and the absurd comicality of the power struggle among Arab leaders being such that at times one cannot help but think of the Three Stooges parody of Hitler (Nasser), Goering (Field Marshal Amer) and Goebbels (King Hussein), especially when their bickering led to three military decisions that sealed the fate of the Egyptian army and the war. First, King Hussein made unprovoked moves toward war that forced Israel to preempt in order to avoid a two-front war; second, Egypt switched from the defensive deployment indicated in the carefully developed Soviet Plan Conqueror to the offensive deployment required by Amer's improvised Operation Dawn) and third, Egypt, at the last minute, stopped their own preemptive attack against Israel. This put Egypt's military in the worst possible position, having to bear the full brunt of the Israeli offensive with inadequate defensive preparations. In an extreme way, of course, most of the above point to the essential differences in the political decision-making process between democratic and dictatorial regimes, a basic and important historical lesson in itself. Among the many invaluable facts and tips in the book that help understand the modern, if still byzantine, Middle East, here are a few: when you thought you had heard the worst about UN incompetence or of anti-Israeli bias in Europe, here comes Secretary General U Thant practically endorsing the Egyptian closing of the Tiran Straits and waiting several days before going to Cairo to meet Nasser until "his horoscope said it was propitious for him to travel." The despicable behavior of De Gaulle, who reneges on France's historical role of armament supplier to Israel and practically accuses Israel of aggression even before the first shot is fired, all for better relations with the Arab world. The heavy Soviet and Arab influence and British support of, and US appeasement and meekness on Security Council Resolution 242, the linchpin for any future peaceful resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict; the absolute worthlessness of "good faith" agreements and documents when the world has to decide between little, insignificant Israel and the many and oil-rich Arab States, a proof that Israel has to go alone, no matter what, when her security is compromised. The inexplicable timidity of the current US policy vis-à-vis terror-supporting, bellicose and deceitful Syria, one almost undistinguishable from the realist American policy of 1967 that was forced by the facts of Vietnam and the confrontation with the Soviet Union. Even Saddam Hussein could well say that the outrage at his gassing of Iranians and Kurds is hypocritical, because he was just imitating the great and world-admired Arab leader Nasser, who repeatedly poison-gassed thousands of Yemenis and Saudis himself. Last but not least, Arab imams, leaders and intellectuals, yesterday and today, telling lies to their peoples and inculcating them with the most extreme and irrational hatred towards Israel. To be fair, I found quite a few unexpected typos and several misspellings of well known military words such as Tupolev, Vautour, Durandal. A most recommended book.
Rating:
Summary: Refutes an Anti-Israel Conspiracy Theory
Review: There is an eight-page section of this book called "Anatomy of an Accident" which refers to the accidental attack by Israeli forces on an American ship, the U.S.S. Liberty, during the 1967 war. Oren refers to claims that Israel had a motive to intentionally attack a U.S. ship as being "conspiracy theories." This book is a useful source of information on the subject and refutes the conspiracy theory version of the attack. Oren confirms the findings of the U.S. Naval Commission of Inquiry in 1967 which determined the attack was a case of mistaken identity. He included a piece of information of which I had been unaware, namely, that after an initial air raid on the ship the Israeli attack had halted but then began again after a Liberty crew member fired on Israeli patrol boats. This return fire directed at the patrol boats confirmed to the patrol boats that this ship was Egyptian, and after which a commander fired the torpedo which tragically killed 25 men. This book will have an impact on perceptions of Israel for years to come. Many of us who discuss topics found in this book will refer to it, and if we disagree should come up with plausible evidence to refute the book's analysis.
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