Biography of Daniel Pipes

Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum, editor of the Middle East Quarterly, and a columnist for The Jerusalem Post.  His website, containing many of his writings, is www.DanielPipes.org.

He received his A.B. (1971) and Ph.D. (1978) from Harvard University, both in history.  He spent six years studying abroad, including three years in Egypt.  Mr. Pipes speaks French and Arabic, and reads German.  He has taught at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and the U.S. Naval War College.  He has served in the Departments of State and Defense.  As vice chairman of the presidentially-appointed Fulbright Board of Foreign Scholarships in 1992-95, Mr. Pipes oversaw U.S. government international exchange programs.  He was director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in 1986-93. 

Mr. Pipes frequently discusses current issues on television, appearing on such programs as ABC World News, CBS Reports, CNN Special Events, Good Morning America, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightline, and The Today Show.  He has lectured in 25 countries.  He has consulted on Middle Eastern topics for prominent financial, manufacturing, and service companies; law firms, bar associations, trade groups; agencies of the U.S. government; and law courts in the United States and Canada. 

He has published in such magazines as the Atlantic Monthly, Commentary, Foreign Affairs, Harper's, National Review, New Republic, and The Weekly Standard.  Many leading newspapers carry articles by Mr. Pipes, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.  His writings have been translated into sixteen languages.

Mr. Pipes has written ten books.  The most recent, Conspiracy:  How the Paranoid Style Flourishes, and Where It Comes From (Free Press 1997), establishes the importance of conspiracy theories in modern European and American politics. 

Three books deal with Islam. The Rushdie Affair (Birch Lane, 1990), In the Path of God: Islam and Political Power (Basic Books, 1983), and Slave Soldiers and Islam (Yale University Press, 1981). 

Three books concern Syria.  Syria Beyond the Peace Process (1996), Damascus Courts the West: Syrian Politics, 1989-91 (Washington Institute, 1991), and Greater Syria (Oxford University Press, 1990). 

And three deal with other Middle Eastern topics.  The Hidden Hand:  Middle East Fears of Conspiracy (St. Martin's, 1996) analyses the way Arabs and Iranians see themselves and the outside world.  The Long Shadow: Culture and Politics in the Middle East (Transaction, 1989) contains essays on a variety of topics.  An Arabist's Guide to Colloquial Egyptian (Foreign Service Institute, 1983) systematizes the grammar of Arabic as spoken in Egypt. 

Mr. Pipes has edited two collections of essays, Sandstorm:  Middle East Conflicts and America (UPA, 1993) and Friendly Tyrants: An American Dilemma (St. Martin's, 1991).  The latter surveys the politics of pro-American authoritarian regimes and their relations with the United States.  He is the joint author of eleven books. 

He is currently at work on “Muslim America,” a survey of Islam in the United States. 

Mr. Pipes serves on three editorial boards and belongs to the Council on Foreign Relations.  He has testified before many congressional committees and worked on four presidential campaigns.  He is or has been listed in Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in Entertainment, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who in the World.  He has one honorary degree. 

The Middle East Forum (www.MEForum.org), an independent 501(c)3 organization founded in 1994, promotes American interests through publications, research, consulting, media outreach, and public education.  

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