Forty years is a good period of time from which to look back on major historical events with a sense of perspective and access to a large volume of declassified material. The memoirs have all been written, many participants in the events have been interviewed, and once-sensitive issues can now be discussed with a high degree of objectivity. Thus it is no surprise that Asaf Siniver has been able to assemble an impressive group of scholars to bring new light to bear on the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Without significant exceptions, the chapters are well researched and present largely convincing pictures of aspects of this major crisis.
Siniver wants to avoid two types of scholarship: one that engages in the “blame game,” prominent in Israel among those who ask who bore responsibility for a war that may have been avoidable; and a second that lumps the October war into generic...