Michael G. Morony

Who is Michael G. Morony?

Michael Gregory Morony has been a professor of history at UCLA since 1974, with interests in the history of Ancient and Islamic Near East.

Morony was born in 1939 in Sacramento. He holds a BA in Near Eastern Languages from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MA in Islamic Studies and a PhD in History from the University of California, Los Angeles. His dissertation, originally advised by Gustave von Grunebaum, was concerned with the history of Mesopotamia after the Islamic Conquests. The edited dissertation was later published as Iraq After the Muslim Conquest. Upon von Grunebaum's death, his dissertation was supervised by Nikki Keddie. In addition to these scholars, Morony has also worked with W. B. Henning in Berkeley and M. A. Shaban.

Morony's research is mostly concerned with the economic history of the Near East, North Africa and Muslim Spain. He has written many articles on the subject and is considered one of the authorities on the socio-economic history of the region in the pre-modern period.