Gilbert Achcar grew up in Lebanon, researched and taught in Beirut, Paris and Berlin, and is currently Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London).

His many books include: The Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder (2002, 2nd edn 2006); Perilous Power: The Middle East and U.S. Foreign Policy, co-authored with Noam Chomsky (2007, 2nd updated edn 2008); The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives (2010, 2nd edn 2011); Marxism, Orientalism, Cosmopolitanism (2013); and The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising (2013, 2nd updated edn forthcoming in 2016).