Neil MacFarquhar invents history

The New York Times' Neil MacFarquhar reviews Kai Bird's Crossing Mandelbaum Gate, Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978. Bird's father was an American diplomat in Jerusalem and Cairo in the 1950's and 1960's. Here's a bit of MacFarquhar's review (Hat Tip: Ron G). Bird’s education in the region’s seemingly endless cycles of war and armistice actually began when he was 4. In 1956,