Known as the Yom Kippur War to the Iraelis, the October War to the Arabs, and the War of 1973 to the rest of the world, on the morning of October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated surprise attack on Israeli forces. It was the morning of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement: schools and businesses were closed, the army was on leave, the government was shut down, and Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat had brought Arab armies to the gates of Israel. When Egyptian troops crossed the Suez Canal on that October day and drove the Israelis back while Syria attacked simultaneously from the East, the image of invincibility that Israel had projected since its overwhelming triumph in the previous war six years earlier was shattered. The War may have ended in a military defeat that required intervention to save Egypt's army from annihilation, but it was a crucial psychological victory, giving Sadat the power to negotiate an honorable peace. An answer to the infamous Arab-Israeli stalemate of 1967, the fighting that ensued would alter the geopolitical landscape of the world. In response to Israeli losses and encouraged by Soviet support of Egypt and Syria, the United States, after much deliberation, decided to intervene on behalf of Israel, further entrenching diplomatic and political lines. As a journalist, author Thomas W. Lippman was a first-hand witness to the watershed incidents, but only now, after the passage of time and the long-delayed release of the State Department's diplomatic files, including a vast pool of materials surrounding the events of 1973 and their aftermath, is Lippman able to assess and present the full after-effects and consequences of the War.

Thus, "Hero of the Crossing: How Anwar Sadat and His 1973 War Changed the World" is neither a biography of Anwar Sadat, nor a detailed account of the War, but an examination of its permanent impact on the world beyond the Middle East.