1967

Israel, the War, and the Year That Transformed the Middle East

By: Tom Segev

Narrated by: James Boles

Length: 28 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

From Israel's leading historian comes this sweeping history of 1967: the war, what led up to it, what came after, and how it changed everything. Tom Segev's acclaimed works One Palestine Complete and The Seventh Million overturned accepted views of the history of Israel. Now, in 1967 (a number-one best-seller in Israel) he brings his masterful skills to 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 and the mood revealed in a popular joke in which one soldier says to his friend, "Let's take over Cairo". The friend replies, "Then what shall we do in the afternoon?"

Drawing on unpublished letters and diaries, as well as government memos and military records, Segev reconstructs an era of new possibilities and tragic missteps. He introduces the legendary figures Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Gamal Abdul Nasser, and Lyndon Johnson, and an epic cast of soldiers, lobbyists, refugees, and settlers. He reveals as never before Israel's intimacy with the White House as well as the political rivalries that sabotaged any chance of peace. Above all, he challenges the view that the war was inevitable, showing that a series of disastrous miscalculations lay behind the bloodshed.

A vibrant and original history, 1967 is sure to stand as the definitive account of that pivotal year.

©2007 Tom Segev (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Critic reviews

"A lucid history of a year that began in agony and self-doubt and ended with a nation made powerful and purposeful." ( Kirkus)

Great book. Worst narrator ever.

It is a testament to the great writing and content of this book that I was able to continue listening. The ridiculously mispronounced names, places and things was unfathomable.
Offensive, even.
Audible needs to do better.

Slow gooing.

History can be presented for the general reader of for professional historians; this book is definitely NOT for the general reader. Even for me, a professional historian, I found it tedious and seemingly intermiable. Much of the focus is on the political machinations inside the Israeli cabinet,very little on the actual combat. There is no information on the Arab perspective at all.

In depth research

I liked the juxtaposition of individual fates, the general atmosphere in the country, and the broad view of politics and thewar

Awesome book, atrocious pronounciation

Tom Segev is a controversial writer ... who writes great books. The only think both Segev's supporters (on the left) and detractors (on the right) will agree on is that the Hebrew pronounciation of James Boles is atrocious.

The book is really interesting ... you should also read/listen to Michael Oren's Six Days of War on this topic. (And Segev's One Palestine Complete)

Impossible to Listen To

This is the most horrific reading of a non-fiction work on Middle Eastern affairs I've yet encountered. Other works (Fiasco, The Looming Towers, etc.) do at least a reasonable stab at pronouncing Middle Eastern terms. But this audio book is intolerable. Starting with the author's name, and then moving on to nearly every place name and proper name, the narrator mispronounces everything, making listening to this production impossible. I'm not expecting native Israeli pronunciation, but I am expecting that the producer and the narrator would make some good faith effort to get the pronunciations in the approximate ballpark. Is there a way to seek out a return amd refund from audible? I'd do it in a second. What a thoroughly unprofessional production!

really damn good book

listening to this book makes you feel like you are actually there, watching over Israeli society during this time period and listening in on the cabinet meetings etc. I almost started choking up while i was eating a burrito today listening to it because the book was giving such an emotional and true account of the war... I read/listen to a lot of books and this one comes highly recommended for those who love history and have an interest in the middle east.

A fact filled report full of factual facts.

What would have made 1967 better?

The book care across like a state department report on Isreal. There was no narrative, just lots of facts and a few brief anecdotes.

Not Always Pleasant Facts!

For me this was a lot to digest. I had images in my mind of how things were from novels I have read. The hard facts were often not very kind to my prior assumptions, but they were delivered in a way that made me believe them. This must have been a hard book to write, but I appreciate the author bringing me into reality. The bottom line is that we are all human and subject to flaws in our character even when we mean well. That probably goes all the way back to Adam. And just as the Bible tells the truth, good and bad, the continuing story of Israel has both.

Just awful

Ugh. Reads like the author just taped a bunch of note cards together. No thought or analysis. And to make matters worse, the author relies about 50% on newspaper articles -- for an event that happened 40 years ago. Hello, there are thousands of living witnesses to events -- maybe step out of the library and interview someone.
But the most glaring omission is any insight from anyone who isn't Israeli. The book is 100% written from an Israeli viewpoint. Well, I guess the victors to get to right the history books, but that's not the kind of history book I'm interested in reading.

Wished I had read the reviews before buying...

Sad that someone who obviously has no training in Hebrew did not bother to consult with someone who does on proper pronunciation...very sad; if I cld get my money back I wld...