2002 – John Esposito, “What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam”

University Professor as well as Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, John L. Esposito is Founding Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding: History and International Affairs in the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

A consultant to the Department of State as well as corporations, universities, and the media worldwide, Esposito specializes in Islam, political Islam, and the impact of Islamic movements from North Africa to Southeast Asia.  He has served as President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies and is Vice Chair of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy.

Esposito is Editor-in-Chief of the 4 volume Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, The Oxford History of Islam (a Book-of-the-Month Club and a History Book Club selection) and The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (forthcoming). His more than 25 books include: Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam; What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam; The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?; Islam: The Straight Path; Islam and Politics; Islam and Democracy and Makers of Contemporary Islam (with John Voll); Political Islam: Revolution, Radicalism or Reform?; Religion and Global Order (with M. Watson); Islam and Secularism in the Middle East (with Azzam Tamimi); Iran at the Crossroads (with R.K. Ramazani); The Iranian Revolution: Its Global Impact; Islam, Gender, and Social Change and Muslims on the Americanization Path and Daughters of Abraham (with Yvonne Haddad); Women in Muslim Family Law; Voices of Resurgent Islam; Islam in Transition: Muslim Perspectives (with John Donohue); Islam in Asia: Religion, Politics, and Society; and Islam and Development. Esposito’s books and articles have been translated into Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Bahasa Indonesia, Turkish, Japanese, Chinese and European several European languages.

Esposito has been interviewed or quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, ABC Nightline, CBS, NBC, and the BBC and in newspapers, magazines, and the media in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.  A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., he currently resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Dr. Jeanette P. Esposito.