One of the leading voices for progressive change in the Middle East,Samir Kassir(1960-2005) taught at the Institut des Sciences Politiques of the Universiteacute; Saint-Joseph in Beirut, worked as a journalist and editorial writer for the dailyAn-Naharnewspaper there, and was a co-founder of the Democratic Left Movement in Lebanon. The author of several other books, includingBeing Arab,Kassir was assassinated by a car bomb in Beirut in June 2005.