Rashid Khalidi was born in New York City in 1948. Over the last 100 years, Khalidi’s family has played a prominent role in Palestinian history. Family members have been leaders of the Palestinian national movement, served as mayors of Jerusalem, and were well-known scholars. Founded in 1899, his family library (known as the Khalidi library) contains manuscripts dating back to the 11th century. He used some of these manuscripts in the writing of this book. The ruins of his family home, which his grandparents were forced to abandon during one of the conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians, can still be seen in the outskirts of Tel Aviv. Khalidi himself has been actively engaged in politics. As one example, he lived In Beirut during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and talked with media outlets about the invasion. The Israeli government considered him and his wife, Mona, and their children terrorists at this time because of the family’s political activism. Khalidi also served as a negotiator on the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation during the 1991 peace conference in Madrid. Khalidi is also a historian, specializing in Middle Eastern and Palestinian studies. For all these reasons, Khalidi presents himself both as a historian and as an individual with personal interest in a book on Palestine.