Fawaz Gerges

Fawaz A. Gerges, a U.S. citizen, was born into a Christian Orthodox family in 1959 in Beirut, Lebanon. During the Lebanese Civil War, his hometown was damaged by the fighting, forcing his family to flee to Syria and take refuge in Christian monasteries. Gerges stayed in Syria for a year before moving to the United States.[2]

He earned a MSc at the London School of Economics and a DPhil from Oxford University. He taught at Oxford, Harvard, and Columbia universities and was a research fellow at Princeton University for two years. He held the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Chair in Middle Eastern Studies and International Affairs at Sarah Lawrence College.[3]

In the last decade Gerges spent five years conducting field research in several Middle Eastern countries on several topics and subjects, including social movements (such as the Muslim Brotherhood, and jihadist groups like Al Qaeda), on Arab and Muslim politics in the 20th century, and relations between the West and the Muslim world.

Gerges is the author of numerous books and publications, including two recently acclaimed texts: Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy (2007), and The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global (2009). The Washington Post selected The Far Enemy as one of the best 15 books published in the field. Journey of the Jihadist was on the best-selling list of Barnes & Noble and Foreign Affairs magazine for several months.

On the ten-year anniversary of 9/11, Oxford University Press released Gerges' book, The Rise and Fall of Al Qaeda (2011).[4] Gerges' book, Obama and the Middle East [5] (May 2012) was published by Pelgrave Macmillan one year later.

He has appeared on television and radio networks throughout the world, including CNN, ABC, CBS, NPR, the BBC and Al Jazeera. During the weeks leading up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, he was a regular guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show, PBS’s The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and The Charlie Rose Show.

At the occasion of the 10 years anniversary of the Arab Spring protests, Gerges warned that the root causes for social unrest in the Arab World were still simmering, adding that "the status quo is untenable, and the next explosion will be catastrophic”.[6]

Gerges is married to Professor Nora Colton, Dean of the Royal Docks Business School and currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of East London. The couple have four children.

Gerges was born during a Lebanese civil war in 1958 and was part of the 1975 war generation. According to him, "My generation was wiped out—killed, mutilated and polluted by sectarian-tribal conflict between 1975 and 1990, or forced into exile."[7] Although he immigrated to the United States to escape the conflict, Gerges' younger brother, Bassam, was killed during the war in 1990. Gerges has lived most of his life in the United States.

• Gerges, Fawaz A. (2018). Making the Arab World: Nasser, Qutb, and the Clash That Shaped the Middle East. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691167886.
• Gerges, Fawaz A. (2016). ISIS: A History. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691170008.
• Gerges, Fawaz A. (2015). Contentious Politics in the Middle East: Popular Resistance and Marginalized Activism beyond the Arab Uprisings. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137537218
• Gerges, Fawaz A. (2013). The New Middle East: Protest and Revolution in the Arab World. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107616882.
• Gerges, Fawaz A. (2012). Obama and the Middle East: The End of America's Moment?. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0230113817.
• Gerges, Fawaz A. (2011). The Rise and Fall of Al Qaeda. Oxford University Press.
• Gerges, Fawaz A.; Wynbrandt, James (2009). A Brief History of Pakistan. Facts On File. ISBN 978-0-8160-6184-6.
• Gerges, Fawaz A. (2009). The Far Enemy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521737432.
• Gerges, Fawaz A. (2006). Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy. Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-101213-X.
• Gerges, Fawaz A. (2005). The Far Enemy: Why Jihad Went Global. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-79140-5.
• Gerges, Fawaz A.; Wynbrandt, James (2004). A Brief History of Saudi Arabia. Checkmark Books. ISBN 0-8160-5795-8.
• Gerges, Fawaz A. (1999). America and Political Islam: Clash of Cultures or Clash of Interests?. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-63957-3.
• Gerges, Fawaz A. (1994). The Superpowers and the Middle East: Regional and International Politics, 1955–1967. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-8696-9.

• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Articles at The Guardian