Kamal Jumblatt (1917-1977) was a distinguished ideologue and Druze leader in Lebanese politics who was considered the father of the contemporary Left in Lebanon despite his feudal background.

Kamal Jumblatt was born in Mukhtarah, Lebanon, in 1917. He was the only son of Fuad and Nazirah Jumblatt. His ancestors were the Kurdish Janbuladhs who converted to the Druze faith and were in control of an expansive feudal entity in northern Syria. In the 17th century they established themselves among their Druze Tanukh and Manid kin in southeastern Lebanon, by which time their surname had evolved into Jounblatt (written Jumblatt). A lawyer by training, Jumblatt was involuntarily diverted into politics in 1943 after serving for one year as an apprentice lawyer with francophile ex-president Emile Edde's law firm.

Jumblatt considered his political career a diversion from his calling as a searcher for knowledge in history and the humanities. In the 1960s...