LZ Granderson: The war restores leonard coeand's faith in his music and saves his career from oblivion. LZ: It seems like an unlikely hope, tat wy, coming to israel i allow you to sing again. But that actually seems to happen. And we know that just a few months after the umkipor war, not only is Coeand not retired, but he releases one of the best albums of his career - new skin for the old ceremony.
In October 1973, an unhappy Leonard Cohen was listening to the radio on his Greek island home when he heard that Israel was at war. He headed to Tel Aviv, exchanging a personal and creative crisis for a national one. Absent a plan and even a guitar, Cohen wound up serenading Israeli soldiers at the front. Journalist Matti Friedman talks about his book Who by Fire with EconTalk host Russ Roberts and explains how a songwriter and a nation were transformed in the crucible of war.