Amanda H. Podany is a professor of history and chair of the history department at Cal Poly Pomona, specializing in ancient Mesopotamia and Syria. Her most recent book is The Ancient Near East: A Very Short Introduction, which appeared in November 2013. Podany's award-winning book, Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East, was published by Oxford University Press in 2010, with the paperback edition coming out in 2012. It explores the relationships between kingdoms and individuals across the Near East and beyond, from 2300 to 1300 BCE.Her previous books include The Land of Hana, about the chronology of an ancient Syrian kingdom, and The Ancient Near Eastern World (co-written with Marni McGee, a wonderful children's book author), a general work designed for secondary school students--though adult readers have also said that they enjoyed it.