Wikipedia's first sentence called it “american”. Today it says “american inian and lebanese descent”. Sections present on October 6, 2023 no longer exist: “Background”.
Found by software in Wikipedia's own edit history. Not yet read by hand. The quoted words are Wikipedia's.
Compared with the live article on 2026-08-04.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Saree Makdisi (born 1964) is an American literary critic and professor; specializing in eighteenth and nineteenth century British literature . He is of Palestinian and Lebanese descent. He also writes on contemporary Arab politics and culture. Makdisi currently holds the title of Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Excavating Memory in Jerusalem "Citations search: "Saree Makdisi'" (Google Books)" .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1294959864.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Saree Makdisi (1964- ) is an American literary critic of Palestinian and Lebanese descent, specializing in eighteenth and nineteenth century British literature . He also writes on contemporary Arab politics and culture. Makdisi currently holds the title of Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA . Excavating Memory in Jerusalem "Citations search: "Saree Makdisi'" (Google Books)" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 367371983.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Saree Makdisi (born 1964) is an American literary critic of Palestinian and Lebanese descent, specializing in eighteenth and nineteenth century British literature . He also writes on contemporary Arab politics and culture. Makdisi currently holds the title of Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA . Excavating Memory in Jerusalem "Citations search: "Saree Makdisi'" (Google Books)" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 668230753.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
American literary critic and professor Saree Makdisi (born 1964) is an American literary critic and professor; specializing in eighteenth and nineteenth century British literature .He is of Palestinian and Lebanese descent. He also writes on contemporary Arab politics and culture. Makdisi currently holds the title of Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Excavating Memory in Jerusalem "Citations search: "Saree Makdisi'" (Google Books)" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1164860799.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “american”. Today it says “american inian and lebanese descent”. Sections present on October 6, 2023 no longer exist: “Background”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
american
Now
american inian and lebanese descent
Sections that no longer exist
This section existed on October 6, 2023. It is gone today. The current article has no similar heading in its place, and the article is shorter overall. So this is not a heading that got renamed, and it is not a topic that got folded into a bigger section. 1 section of 400 characters or more gone since October 6 2023, with the article 76 characters shorter.
Background
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.