by Kai Bird
First published 2011
Kai Bird chronicles his childhood years moving through the volatile Middle East as the son of an American diplomat. In 1956, four-year-old Kai arrives in Jerusalem, where church bells mingle with the Muslim call to prayer and donkeys share narrow streets with automobiles. Daily trips to school take him through Mandelbaum Gate, where armed guards patrol the boundary between Israeli West Jerusalem and Arab East Jerusalem. Bird's family relocates frequently across the region, living in Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon during pivotal moments including the Suez Crisis, the Six Day War, and Black September. The author encounters remarkable figures like Jordan's King Hussein, Palestinian hijacker Leila Khaled, Salem bin Laden, and forgotten Holocaust rescuer Hillel Kook. Bird navigates complex family loyalties as his parents support Palestinian self-determination while his wife descends from Holocaust survivors. This personal account illuminates the Arab-Israeli conflict through the eyes of a child who spent his formative years crossing the region's most contested borders.
Genres: family-life, historical-fiction, 20th-century, autobiography, biography-memoir, 21st-century, academic, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, personal-journey
Setting: Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia
Period: 1956, Black September, Six Day War, Suez Crisis
448 pages · Paperback · Scribner