A Curiosity-Based Book Review: The Wars of Israel

The Method That Mirrors How We Actually Think

Most history books move chronologically: start at the beginning, march forward to the present. Logical, orderly, comprehensible. But that’s not how we actually encounter complex situations.

We start with now (with a crisis, a conflict, a problem that demands immediate attention) and then ask:

How did we get here?

What decisions led to this moment?

What patterns can we see looking backward that were invisible moving forward?

Jefferson’s reverse-engineered approach starts with the October 7, 2023 Hamas invasion of Israel and the subsequent multi-front conflicts, then systematically works backward through:

• The 2006 Lebanon War
• The Second Intifada (2000–2005)
• The Oslo Accords era
• The First Intifada (1987–1993)
• The Lebanon War (1982)
• The Yom Kippur War (1973)
• The Six-Day War (1967)