10% off all books and free delivery over £50
Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks.

The Optimist

View All Editions (2)

The selected edition of this book is not available to buy right now.
Add To Wishlist
Write A Review

About

The Optimist Synopsis

Tawfiq Zayyad (1929-94) was a renowned Palestinian poet and a committed communist activist. For four decades, he was a dominant figure in political life in Israel, as a local council member, mayor of Nazareth, and member of the Israeli parliament. Zayyad personified the collective struggle of the Palestinian citizens of Israel, challenging the military government following the creation of the state of Israel, leading the 1976 nationwide strike against land confiscation, and tirelessly protesting Israeli military occupation after 1967. With this book, Tamir Sorek offers the first biography of this charismatic figure.

Zayyad's life was one of balance and contradiction-between his revolutionary writings as Palestinian patriotic poet and his pragmatic political work in the Israeli public sphere. He was uncompromising in his protest of injustices against the Palestinian people, but always committed to a universalist vision of Arab-Jewish brotherhood. It was this combination of traits that made Zayyad an exceptional leader-and makes his biography larger than the man himself to offer a compelling story about Palestinians and the state of Israel.

About This Edition

ISBN: 9781503612730
Publication date:
Author: Tamir Sorek
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Format: Paperback
Pagination: 264 pages
Series: Stanford Studies in Middle Eastern and Islamic Societies and Cultures
Genres: Biography: general
Biography: historical, political and military
Political leaders and leadership
Middle Eastern history
Geographical discovery and exploration

Frequently asked questions