The author, Taysir Najm Nashif, was born in Tayyiba, located between Haifa and Jaffa. He earned a B.A. degree in political science and Arabic language and literature from the Univ. of Jerusalem, and an M.A. degree in Middle Eastern studies from the Univ. of Toronto. In 1974, he earned a Ph.D. degree in political science from the State University of New York at Binghamton. He served as assistant professor at the Dept. of Sociology of the Univ. of Oran, and assistant professor of Arabic language and culture at the Dept. of Critical Languages of Temple Univ. He also served as a translator and reviser, and later as chief, at the Arabic Reporting Section at the United Nations, NY. He was a… member in several associations, including the Middle East Studies Association, Association of Third World Studies and the American Political Science Association. A number of Dr. Nashif's books and articles, in both Arabic and English, were published. Titles of three of his published books are: Society, Intellectuals and Cultural Change in the Developing Countries, The Palestine Arab and Jewish Political Leadership under the British Mandate: A Comparative Study, and Social Justice and Intellectual Suppression.