I’m a historian of Muslim – non-Muslim relations in medieval Islam. In all of my publications I've been concerned with the social intersections of different religious communities in the medieval Islamic world, whether through human agency or via institutional arrangements. My goal has been to de-center Islamic history by approaching it from its margins. Hence the choice to study the role of women as agents of religious change in my last monograph Female Power and Religious Change in the Medieval Near East. In this book I address two historical questions which I've always been passionate about, namely the Islamization of the Near East and the place of women in pre-modern Near Eastern societies. 

I'm a retired diplomat and award-winning novelist with a PhD in history. I became fascinated by the crusades and the crusader states because few periods of history are so widely misunderstood or so profoundly misrepresented. While scholars have for decades meticulously uncovered the evidence of religious tolerance, peaceful coexistence, and sophisticated understanding of the Islamic opponent, the general public remains trapped in the cliches of “barbarism,” “bigotry” “apartheid” and “proto-colonialism”. The discrepancy between the evidence and the popular image motivated me to write books that show the real face of the crusader states as revealed by the scholarship of the last thirty years. In addition, I was commissioned by Pen & Sword to write a non-fiction introduction to the crusader states that will be released later this year.

I do not know about the origins of my passion but hardships did influence me, the values of Islam shaped my personality and infused passion required to speak up against injustices. When I write, I speak my mind and try to put my heart and soul into it and that’s how the passionate story of ‘The Broken Silence’ came into existence. It is composed over a period of 23 years; that speaks up and documents the genocidal sanctions imposed on Iraq that caused the pathetic deaths of about a million innocent children - “This book is a historic documentation of one man’s passionate efforts to do his part to speak truth to power.”

I’m a recovering ambassador, now running an Oxford college. After almost 25 years in diplomacy, including working in no 10 for three prime ministers, I realised that education is upstream diplomacy. If we are to find a way through the challenges ahead – from climate change to pandemics and economic crisis to artificial intelligence – we must act, urgently, to upgrade why, what, and how we learn. I set out to ask hundreds of the most inspirational people on the planet what they wished they had known, and what they would share with the next generation if this was their last day. 

I’m a British author who specializes in writing about diversity and inclusion. I’ve always been a firm believer in equality for all, and I think diversity is such a vital subject for children to learn. It’s so important to teach children to love themselves and treat others how they would want to be treated, even if they are different than you. I believe a little bit of love goes a long way. I hope you enjoy my list of children’s books about diversity and share in my passion for children’s books that champion love and acceptance for everyone.

Grief is something I grew up with. I was a toddler when my infant sister died and it devasted my family. They weren’t able to grieve her death properly because the family code was not to talk about our losses. Now, as a psychologist, I treat patients who are bereaved. Many books have been written about grief, but few focus on what happens to the brain, the heart, and the body of the bereaved. I wrote a book about grief because of my research on the human brain as a faculty investigator at Harvard Medical School, my understanding of grief through my clinical work, my personal life, and my review of the grief literature. 

I was eleven years old when I read my first adult spy novel. I was only able to get my hands on it after receiving permission from my father, who brought home three to four espionage books from the library every week. By the time I was halfway through the book, I was hooked on the genre forever. Since faith plays an important role in my life, I’m always delighted to discover authors whose books reflect a strong belief system yet who can tell a compelling, action-packed adventure without sounding preachy.

In my research and teaching, I have long been fascinated with the effects of the French Revolution on France, Europe, and the broader world.  In my most recent book, Our Friends the Enemies, I sought to examine the aftermath of the wars provoked by the Revolution, which lasted (with only two short breaks) from 1792 to 1815.  In particular, I wanted to reconstruct the story—which had long been overlooked by historians—of the occupation of France by the Allies who defeated Napoleon.  Lasting from 1815 to 1818, this occupation was the first modern peacekeeping mission, with profound consequences for the history of France and Europe in the nineteenth century and beyond.

I'm a retired economics professor from the US who studied Japan for most of my 46-year career and have lived in Kyoto since 2008. I first visited Kyoto in 1981, naively hoping to revel in the splendors of the Heian era, and was disappointed to find that the physical manifestations of medieval Japan as evoked in The Tale of Genji had vanished. But the persisting legacy of that ancient age is still evident to the trained observer. Japan today embodies its past. It's not enough to know that Japan today is a prosperous country. Curious people also want to know how it got that way. The roots lie deep in the past. 

I am a history professor who is drawn to history out of a love of recovering and making accessible otherwise forgotten voices and stories of the past. I’m especially interested in relationships between Jews and Muslims and how they’ve dealt with minorityhood, displacement, colonialism, and modernization. I’ve written four books, two focusing on Muslims and two on Jews, as well as numerous articles. Among my greatest pleasures as a scholar is seeing my readers begin with an interest in the stories of one religious group (either Muslims or Jews) and then become so curious about the drama, joy, and conflicts of the era that they become interested in the stories of the other as well.