Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen In The Sinai

★★★ Matti Friedman SPIEGEL & GRAU. £20

Field Commander Cohen entertains the troops in the Yom Kippur war.

In October ’73 Leonard left Suzanne and baby Adam to go to Israel and offer himself as a volunteer. Stories vary as to what he intended, but he wound up part of an ad hoc troupe of performers who drove to the frontline in a truck, headlights doubling as spotlights, to play for small groups of soldiers wherever they found them. Though Cohen had an audience in Israel, this drew very little press. Friedman has gathered detailed stories and photos from many who were there. As to why he was there, excerpts from Cohen’s unpublished notebooks present him as a “refugee” from domestic life in his “myth home”, and it freed him up to write a new song, Lover Lover Lover. An engaging story, but what would have made this short book more essential is a bigger picture of Cohen’s deep and enduring interest in war in his life (remember Cuba, 1961?) and work.