Christopher Sykes, author and historian, died Monday at age 79. The son of Sir Mark Sykes, who played a key role in promoting and issuing the Balfour Declaration, Christopher Sykes wrote extensively on Zionism and the rise of Israel.
“Crossroads to Israel” (1965) remains a standard work on the Arab-Israeli conflict, reflecting the author’s intimate knowledge of Zionist affairs. He also wrote the definitive biography of Gen. Orde Wingate, the pro-Zionist British officer, whom he greatly admired.
“In “Two Studies in Virtue” (1953), he portrayed the career of his father, Assistant Secretary to the War Cabinet, who died at a tragically young age shortly after World War I.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
