looking for in that interaction. This may be a new design for a book of this
kind; if so, it bears emulation. It transforms the confusion of a solid confer-
ence record into a well worked out conclusion--tentative though it may
be--from the various perspectives aired. It makes a coherent volume out of
material that by its nature--perspectives from different vantage points--
cannot by itself be coherent.

Even though I was serving in the White House and was dealing with this
situation in 1967, the discussion of key questions brought to the surface a
number of points of view that made me think about angles I had not
previously examined as I should have. The book thereby contributes a more
fully rounded picture of the war than does any single author's volume, no
matter how good.

The human interaction in the course of the conference that is apparent
in the presentations and in the discussion brings the subject alive in the
same multifaceted way that the real-life crisis was lived. If the book does
nothing--and it does much more--it gives the reader a sense of the incom-
pleteness of knowledge with which senior policymakers must operate in
dealing with most major international problems. No textbook on interna-
tional relations could contribute the same impressions that this book creates.
A textbook feels compelled to bring order to the policy-making process. It
is anything but, and only a book of this kind, produced by people and an
editor who were involved, could convey that sense of partial knowledge,
sharply conflicting perspectives, irrational actions, divided governments, and
failure of even the closest friends to understand each other.

These are only some of the ways in which this book stands out from all
others on this subject. Although it focuses on one major international event,
the interactions surrounding that event are relevant to countless others.

This book will be required reading for all students of Middle East history
in this period. It will match recent books on the Cuban missile crisis--some
produced after similar dialogues among participants--as case studies in
crisis management and policy making. It will interest students of interna-
tional relations as a case study in how governments really interact. Although
it is not in the same genre, it has the same interest value as The Guns
of August.

Harold H. Saunders

HAROLD H. SAUNDERS was a member of the National Security Council staff
in the White House during the period of the Six-Day War. Later, he flew

-xii-