Joseph Sas­soon is Pro­fes­sor of His­to­ry and Pol­i­tics at George­town Uni­ver­si­ty. He is also a Senior Asso­ciate Mem­ber at St. Antony’s Col­lege, Oxford and a Trustee of the Bodleian Library. His pre­vi­ous books include the prize-win­ning Sad­dam Hus­sein’s Ba’th Par­ty, The Iraqi Refugees, and The Anato­my of Author­i­tar­i­an­ism in the Arab Republics.