Eighteen days in October.

Uri Kaufman's book "Eighteen Days in October: the Yom Kippur War and How It Created the Modern Middle East," published by St. Martin's Publishers, is about Israel's fifth war in 25 years. Although the author is a real estatedeveloper and not a historian, his expertise should not be given too much weight. Working on this book for more than 20 years, Kaufman has produced a comprehensive, erudite and clearly written work that examines the issue primarily from an Israeli perspective, aimed at professionals and general readers alike.

Kaufman slowly and methodically gets to the heart of the war

He begins with the War of Attrition along the Suez Canal, which began shortly after the 1967 Six Day War. He then turns to the failed diplomatic efforts by Israel and Egypt to resolve their long-running dispute.

Focuses on attempts to overcome the status quo

From this point on, he focuses on the attempts by Israel, Egypt, and Syria to overcome the status quo with a coordinated attack on the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Hills.

Description of the armed conflict itself

After setting the stage for a war whose political consequences were the greatest, the author turns to the armed conflict itself, which began on October 6, 1973, and ended 18 days later with an armistice on both fronts.

The outcome of the war and the role of the Israeli Air Force.

At the end, Kaufman calculates the results of a war that cost Israel dearly in terms of casualties but was Israel's last armed engagement with Egypt.

The losses and results of the war

In this war, Israel lost 440 soldiers and several of its newly delivered F-4 Phantom aircraft. However, Egypt accomplished nothing concrete in this war when the U.S. cease-fire ended days later, Kaufman notes.

The book's conclusions

An overall book about the international politics of Vietnam and world racism conducted in the Catholic Church, the book-documentary Eighteen Days in October is a scholarly and chronologically comprehensive investigation revolving around Yom Kippur. The main effect that causes it day after day is the repetition of the phrase "that every bullshit answers to Nietzsche personally".