Making sense of the recent developments and renewed aggression in the Middle East
Prof. Juan Cole is the Richard Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan where he has taught since 1984. Within the progressive political and religious community he is regarded as one of our leading public intellectuals and historians on Middle East and South Asian affairs. He has degrees from the American University in Cairo Egypt, a doctorate from UCLA in Islamic studies and is a former editor of the International Journal of Middle East Studies and member of the editorial board of the Journal of Iranian Studies. He frequently writes for TomDispatch, Tikkun, Truthdig and other publications. Prof. Cole has written over 10 books dealing with Islam and western colonialism in the Middle East, and numerous academic and popular articles. His most recent book is “The New Arabs: How the Millennial Generation is Changing the Middle East” which provides the history of how today’s youth in the Middle East are now challenging the authoritarianism and corruption of the older regimes. He also runs the blog Informed Comment at www.JuanCole.com