Brannon Wheeler is the founding Director of the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies and Professor of History at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. He received his PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago and has been a visiting scholar at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, the College of Shariah and Islamic Studies at Kuwait University, the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies at the University of Bergen in Norway, and the American University of Kuwait. Prof. Wheeler has authored and edited seven books and is Editor of the book series and journal of Comparative Islamic Studies.