The Eve of Destruction is the true story of the Yom Kippur war of October 1973. It was a pivotal time in the turbulent history of the Middle East, the ever-conflicted Israeli-Arab relations and the possibilities of peace.

Convinced the Jewish state was all but finished by the end of the third day of the war, Israeli leaders began to celebrate. The Suez Canal had been crossed by more than eighty thousand Egyptian troops who had then overrun the Israeli forts and gotten down into the Sinai Peninsula. One-third of all of the Israeli Air Force fighter jets had been shot down in the first two days of the war. The terms of surrender had already been outlined. Then, in a series of unprecedented air and land battles, the tide turned for Israel.

With an attention to detail and an affinity for describing battles as well as interspersing tidbits of humanity (such as Prime Minister Golda Meir purchasing a suicide pill at one point), Blum makes this book imminently readable. Those who are expecting a dry history tome will be pleasantly surprised, and those who want battle details will not be disappointed.

The pacing of the book is very readable. The dialogue is believable. The settings and war descriptions make the reader feel as if they are there. All in all, The Eve of Destruction is a very good book about a little-known but important piece of history.