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

Near East

The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...

.

Morony was born in 1939 in Sacramento. He holds a BA in Near Eastern Languages from the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, and an MA in Islamic Studies and a PhD (1972) in History from the University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Los Angeles

The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

. 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

Nikki Keddie

Nikki R. Keddie is an professor of Eastern, Iranian, and women's history. She retired from the University of California, Los Angeles after 35 years of teaching...

. 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

Economic history

Economic history is the study of economies or economic phenomena in the past. Analysis in economic history is undertaken using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and by applying economic theory to historical situations and institutions...

 of the Near East

Near East

The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...

, North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

 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.

Works

• "Iraq after the Muslim Conquest" (Princeton 1983)
• The History of al-Tabari, Vol. XVIII, "Between Civil Wars: The Caliphate of Mu'awiyah" (Albany, 1987), translation
• "Production and the Exploitation of Resources", Series : The Formation of the Classical Islamic World: 11, 2002, ISBN 978-0-86078-706-8 (ed.)
• "Manufacturing and Labour", Series : The Formation of the Classical Islamic World: 12, 2003, ISBN 978-0-86078-707-5 (ed.)