Book cover of Nasser's Gamble: How Intervention in Yemen Caused the Six-Day War and the Decline of Egyptian Power

Book description

Nasser's Gamble draws on declassified documents from six countries and original material in Arabic, German, Hebrew, and Russian to present a new understanding of Egypt's disastrous five-year intervention in Yemen, which Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser later referred to as "my Vietnam." Jesse Ferris argues that Nasser's attempt to export…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Nasser's Gamble as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Nasser's Gamble is an accessible, fluid articulation of Egypt's disastrous pro-Republican war in Yemen in the 1960s, and the thesis that the resources devoted to it (and lack of foresight) dramatically impacted Egypt's performance in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Not overly academic, and syntheses several other studies, with original archival research. A (somewhat) new take on a critical, and not popularly known piece of Middle East history.

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These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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