Juan Cole at Confronting Napoleon program

Juan Cole has recently published an important new book about Napoleon's invasion of Egypt entitled Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East and his talk at the upcoming Humanities West program will focus on aspects of this topic. (If you purchase the book through our link to Amazon, a small percentage of the purchase price will go to Humanities West, at no additional cost to you.)

However, Cole is also one of America's leading experts on the Middle East, and is a frequent commentator on Middle Eastern issues. If you are interested in seeing how he combines historical insight with contemporary issues and lessons, you might want to watch his hour-plus talk ("Lessons from Past Western Incursions in the Middle East") on YouTube, which compares the French experience with America's experience two centuries later. There is also a four-minute segment from YouTube in which Cole answers five questions about current political issues in the Middle East. Cole also publishes a blog, Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion, which you can follow.