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The Lion's Gate: On The Front Lines Of The Six Day War (2014)

by Steven Pressfield(Favorite Author)

4.32 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1595230912 (ISBN13: 9781595230911)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Sentinel HC

review 1: I have always felt that oral history, as transcribed to paper (or, these days, electronic tablet) is some of the best kind of history. We hear the participants speak, we don't get bogged down in statistics, we see things through their eyes. Such is "The Lion's Gate", Steven Pressfield's history of the Six-Day War. People under 50 today consider this short but immensely important 1967 conflict the same as they do Vietnam, a war in the past, fought by an older generation, with little impact on their lives today. But like all wars, this one's impact is still being felt today. When considering the historical importance of any war it is helpful to consider what might have happened had it ended differently. There have been many books written about alternative endings to World W... morear II, most of which have Germany using its technological advantages in missiles, long-range bombers and atomic weapons to defeat Russia, occupy Britain and, at the very least, force the United States to hunker down in between its guardian oceans. Consider what 2014 would be like had Israel lost the Six-Day War. A second Holocaust would likely have occurred. The Arab armies that were massing on the Israeli frontier had publicly sworn to kill the Israelis to the last man, woman and child. What must it have been like to live in a country encountering such a threat? Pressfield takes us there. We hear not only from veterans who are alive today, but the words of Moshe Dayan, whose brilliant leadership and dynamic personal charisma produced a victory of epic proportions for his outmanned, outgunned nation. We can feel the fear and elation of the fighter pilots as they embark on the daring operation that opened the war, a roll-the-dice mass attack on Egypt's airfields that, had it failed, would have left Israel defenseless from the air. We can sense the excitement of the motorized infantry scouts who advance into the Sinai and then their grief as they mourn lost comrades and horror as they encounter the devastation wrought upon the enemy. And as we march with paratroopers into the Old City of Jerusalem to liberate Judaism's holiest sites, we know their wonderment and overwhelming emotion of the moment. Having visited Jerusalem myself not long ago, I could envision the places perfectly. The only thing missing is the view of the enemy. What were the Egyptians thinking as they saw enemy aircraft attack their supposedly-secure air bases? Why did the Jordanians flee Jerusalem without hardly firing a shot? What is clear is that the Arab defeat was due equally to the skill and daring of the Israelis, combined with an astounding lack of leadership on the part of the Arabs.
review 2: I've not read any of Pressfield's books that dwell in this type of arena, sticking to his work that falls more in line with The War of Art and so on, but the way he tells this story really worked for me. I didn't know anything about this war beforehand, and his storytelling drew me in. I really enjoyed it and - while it is an engrossing read - it isn't an overwhelming one. I'm going to dive into his other work now after reading The Lion's Gate. If you like Pressfield's other work, or if you are a history buff, you'll like this book. less

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