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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>"A biography of Tawfiq Zayyad (1929-1994), noted Palestinian nationalist poet, activist, mayor of Nazareth, and member of the Israeli Knesset. Zayyad protested against the Israeli military rule (1948-66) and the occupation of Palestinian territories after 1967, but he also remained a committed advocate for the two-state solution. His life opens a window into the experiences of the '48 Palestinians and Arab-Palestinian nationalism, and to many of the key events of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the 20th century (notably, the creation of the state of Israel, the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the first intifada, and the Oslo Accords)"--<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p>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. </p> <p>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.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br><i>The Optimist</i> is a deftly written biography that will fascinate readers already familiar with the broad contours of Tawfiq Zayyad's life as well as those encountering him for the first time. Tamir Sorek provides fresh insight into how someone can maintain hope in a region too often characterized as hopeless.--Maha Nassar "author of <i>Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World</i>"<br><br>[Tamir Sorek] presents an unprecedented, in-depth exploration of the life and work of Tawfiq Zayyad....<i>The Optimist</i> is a must read.--Naim Mousa "<i>Mondoweiss</i>"<br><br>Tamir Sorek provides a richly detailed excursion into the life and work of an eminent 'organic intellectual, ' who found in language a means for recovery after Israel's colonial erasure of Palestine. <i>The Optimist</i> is valuable to anyone interested in encountering fusions between Marxism and Messianism, Jewishness and Arabness, Christianity and Islam, childhood and adulthood, the prosaic and the poetic, the political and the personal.--Khaled Furani "Tel Aviv University, author of <i>Silencing the Sea: Secular Rhythms in Palestinian Poetry</i>"<br><br>This sympathetic and informative biography is a welcome celebration of [Tawfiq Zayyad's] memory as well as a valuable contribution to our understanding of Palestinian history.--John Green "<i>Morning Star Online</i>"<br><br>With nuance, precision, and admiration, Tamir Sorek tells the story of Tawfiq Zayyad's complicated and heroic life, and with it, the story of an ongoing catastrophe and the Palestinian people's unceasing battle for survival and dignity. <i>The Optimist</i> pays homage to resistance, radical politics, and the struggle for social mobility, all of which typified Zayyad's long career. A bold and important achievement.--Orit Bashkin "University of Chicago, author of <i>Impossible Exodus: Iraqi Jews in Israel</i>"<br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><b>Tamir Sorek</b> is Liberal Arts Professor of Middle East History at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of <i>Palestinian Commemoration in Israel: Calendar, Monuments, and Martyrs</i> (Stanford, 2015) and <i>Arab Soccer in a Jewish State: The Integrative Enclave</i> (2007).

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