JL;DR SUMMARY Tamir Sorek, a professor of history at Penn State University, shares insights from his book "The Optimist: A social biography of Tawfiq Zayyad", which explores the life of Tawfiq Zayyad, a prominent Palestinian politician and intellectual in Israel during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.