{"product_id":"crossing-mandelbaum-gate-coming-of-age-between-the-arabs-and-israelis-1956-1978-9781416544418","title":"Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978","description":"\u003cb\u003e*From the Pulitzer Prize-winning coauthor of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Prometheus--\u003c\/i\u003ethe inspiration for the Academy Award-winning film \u003ci\u003eOppenheimer*\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eNow with a new introduction, Kai Bird's fascinating memoir of his early years spent in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon provides an original and illuminating perspective into the Arab-Israeli conflict.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn 1956, four-year-old Kai Bird, son of a charming American diplomat, moved to Jerusalem with his family. Kai could hear church bells and the Muslim call to prayer and watch as donkeys and camels competed with cars for space on the narrow streets. Each day on his way to school, Kai was driven through Mandelbaum Gate, where armed soldiers guarded the line separating Israeli-controlled West Jerusalem from Arab-controlled East. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Bird would spend much of his life crossing such lines--as a child in Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, and later, as a young man in Lebanon. In \u003ci\u003eCrossing Mandelbaum Gate, \u003c\/i\u003ea narrative that \"rips along like a spy novel\" (\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e), Bird's retelling of \"events such as Suez in 1956, the Six Day War of 1967, and Black September in 1970 are as clear and fresh as yesterday\" (The Spectator, UK). Bird vividly portrays emblematic figures like George Antonius, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Arab Awakening; \u003c\/i\u003eJordan's King Hussein; the Palestinian hijacker Leila Khaled; Salem bin Laden; Saudi King Faisal; President Nasser of Egypt; and Hillel Kook, the forgotten rescuer of more than 100,000 Jews during World War II. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Bird, his parents sympathetic to Palestinian self-determination and his wife the daughter of two Holocaust survivors, has written a \"kaleidoscopic and captivating\" (Publishers Weekly) personal history of a troubled region and an indispensable addition to the literature on the modern Middle East.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eKai Bird is the coauthor with Martin J. Sherwin of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, \u003ci\u003eAmerican Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer\u003c\/i\u003e, which was the inspiration for the film \u003ci\u003eOppenheimer\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture. His other books include \u003ci\u003eThe Chairman: John J. McCloy, the Making of the American Establishment, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy \u0026amp; William Bundy, Brothers in Arms, \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Outlier.\u003c\/i\u003e Bird is the winner of the 2024 BIO Award for his contributions to the art and craft of biography. His many other honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the German Marshall Fund, and the Rockefeller Foundation. A contributing editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/i\u003e, he lives in Kathmandu, Nepal, with his wife and son.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50646754820370,"sku":"9781416544418","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_a7f47377-62ea-4471-bf83-aca1bbb2d24f.jpg?v=1733184929","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/crossing-mandelbaum-gate-coming-of-age-between-the-arabs-and-israelis-1956-1978-9781416544418","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}