Rating: 
Summary: Comprehensive, much detail, insightful - 4.5 stars
Review: It's hard to imagine an account of any war having more detail from the battlefield as this one. Most of the mini-accounts, stories of particular soldiers and skirmishes are riveting. Some, not so much. Each would benefit from greater use of maps. (Pet peeve - why do authors that provide such rich detail and exacting minutiae of wars skimp so badly on the maps??)
More importantly, the political context is superbly set, the story of each front in the war highly detailed, yet woven into a compelling story and the greater Cold-War impact is intriguing (if not as fully explored as it could have been, but that's quibbling). As with other accounts of the recent history of Middle East conflict, one can perceive some Divine intervention in many aspects. One striking example is, as Rabinovich documents, Israel's stubborn refusal to see every clear indication of the Arab's intent & plans to attack, a obstinacy that cannot simply be explained away as stemming from arrogance borne of the 1967 Israeli victory. In hindsight, the blindness exhibited by Israel's celebrated intelligence and military communities to the pending Arab attack is so striking that it seems imposed by an outside Force.
Rating: 
Summary: Can't See the Forest for the Trees
Review: The "Yom Kippur War" gives you a good from-the-turret view of the war. However, it lacks detailed maps and fails to deliver a good operational picture of the situation on the ground. For example, we are left to puzzle at the Egyptian deployment in the Sinai that would allow fairly large Israeli units unmolested access to the canal! A map showing the deployment of Egyptian brigades, or even divisions, would have sufficed here. Although the book provides amazing detail of individual soldiers and small unit actions, the operational picture is missing.
Also missing is any discussion of the equipment used by the armies. Particularly missed is any comparison of the opposing tanks. The author refers to T-62s and Centurions and Shermans without ever describing their relative capabilities. This is a glaring omission.
The book excels at offering stories of small unit actions from an exclusively Israeli viewpoint. You'll need resources outside this book to comprehend the bigger picture though.
Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Work
Review: This is a generally well written and comprehensive history of the Yom Kippur War. It includes an extensive discussion of the days leading up to the war, as well as its immediate aftermath.While I strongly recommend the book, I believe there were areas for improvement. The detail on some of the battlefield encounters could have been shortened. In addition, while the book discusses the thinking and actions of Arab leaders, the focus is overwhelmingly on the Israeli side. More detail on the Arab side would have made for an even more interesting book. Among the more fascinating parts of the book: 1. The sheer volume of intelligence ignored by the Israeli defense and intelligence establishments prior to the war.
2. Ariel Sharon standing out not so much for his military daring but for being one of the few senior Israeli military leaders not initially paralyzed by the surprise and early success of the Arab invasion.
3. The role of Henry Kissinger who almost micro-managed the conflict to a draw to set the table for future peace negotiations.
4. The degree to which individual initiative at relatively low ranks in the Israeli Army helped Israel stem the tide until it was able to counterattack. This book argues, convincingly, that the Yom Kippur War was actually the first step in the Egyptian-Israeli peace process. It is an important work in understanding the Middle East today.
Rating:
Summary: The Most thorough account to date
Review: This wonderful new book on the Yom Kippur war is the most updated, accurate thorough account yet written on the subject. Early works on the Yom Kippur war suffered due to secrecy on both sides of the conflict. Later works, like Blums 'eve of destruction' are narrow in their outlook and focus usually on only one or two elements of the conflict. This masterful work focuses on the entire conflict. From AMAN's intelligence failures to the planning for operation Badr to the 'last temple' statements of Mr. Dayan. Here is blow by blow coverage of the minor skirmishes and the large battles as well as day to day accounts of the fate of the men along the Bar-Lev line. The Yom Kippur War has long been relegated to the Sack Heap of history, a seminal conflict ignored in the broader context of the Arab Israeli wars. Usually it plays second fiddle to the 'Six Day War' yet the Yom Kippur War was the most fascinating of the conflicts due to its multi-dimensional nature, from the surprise attack to the early setbacks, the airlift and the final world shattering gains in the Golan and across the Suez. Rabinovich is well known for his other work in the Jerusalem Post and he is an acknowledged expert on political and military affairs. But this book remains a tour de-force of epic proportions. Simply a very readable, extremely accessible and detailed account. Scholars of Israeli history as well as those looking for an epic military history book will enjoy this new volume. Anyone interested in the Arab-Israeli conflict and the modern geography of the middle east will find this book insightful.
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