Who By Fire, Matti Friedman
Who By Fire, Matti Friedman
36 Rating(s)
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

Who By Fire
War, Atonement, and the Resurrection of Leonard Cohen

Author: Matti Friedman

Narrator: Matti Friedman, Andrew Polk

Unabridged: 5 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/05/2022

Synopsis

The little-known story of Leonard Cohen’s concert tour to the front lines of the Yom Kippur War, including never-before-seen selections from an unfinished manuscript by Cohen and rare photographs In October 1973, the poet and singer Leonard Cohen—thirty-nine years old, famous, unhappy, and at a creative dead end—traveled from his home on the Greek island of Hydra to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert when Egypt attacked Israel on the Jewish high holiday of Yom Kippur. Moving around the front with a guitar and a group of local musicians, Cohen met hundreds of young soldiers, men and women at the worst moment of their lives. Those who survived never forgot the experience. And the war transformed Cohen. He had announced that he was abandoning his music career, but he instead returned to Hydra and to his family, had a second child, and released one of the best albums of his career. In Who by Fire, journalist Matti Friedman gives us a riveting account of those weeks in the Sinai, drawing on Cohen’s previously unpublished writing and original reporting to create a kaleidoscopic depiction of a harrowing, formative moment for both a young country at war and a singer at a crossroads.

About Matti Friedman

Matti Friedman's 2016 book Pumpkinflowers was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book and as one of Amazon's 10 Best Books of the Year. It was selected as one of the year's best by Booklist, Mother Jones, Foreign Affairs, the National Post, and the Globe and Mail. His first book, The Aleppo Codex, won the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize, the ALA's Sophie Brody Medal, and the Canadian Jewish Book Award for history. A former Associated Press correspondent, Friedman has reported from Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Moscow, the Caucasus, and Washington, D.C., and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and elsewhere. Friedman grew up in Toronto and now lives with his family in Jerusalem.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Tim on December 07, 2023

In 1973, Leonard Cohen was having something like a mid-life crisis. He was 39 years old and decided he ran out of things to say and didn’t want to write songs anymore. Then on October 6th of that year, which was the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, an Arab coalition launched a surprise attack on Israe......more

Goodreads review by Ann on March 18, 2022

The fact that I’ve listened to this (at normal speed) within a day is testament to how much I loved this genre-defying audiobook. It helps if you like Leonard Cohen but I’m not sure that it’s essential. By focusing on Cohen’s ‘visit’ to Israel during the Yom Kippur war, the author has created a multi......more

Goodreads review by Kid on January 18, 2022

As a recent convert to the music and wisdom of Leonard Cohen, I have been actively searching out books about his life and career, especially if they offer an interesting and original angle. Journalist Matti Friedman’s excellent and timely work “Who By Fire - Leonard Cohen in the Sinai” is one such b......more

Goodreads review by Alan on September 18, 2022

In one sense, this is definitely not the sort of book I normally read, and in another sense, it is precisely the sort of book I like to read. I have always enjoyed Matte Friedman, his books, his commentary and his coverage of events. I believe after this book I have a deeper appreciation of the topi......more

Goodreads review by Zibby on September 28, 2022

This is the story of a little-known piece of Leonard Cohen’s life. At 37, he had heard about the unrest in Isreal. He retired, left home, and traveled from the Greek island of Hydra to the chaos and bloodshed of the Sinai desert. He visited the front lines of the Yom Kippur War when Egypt attacked I......more

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List