Mark LeVine, of the University of California, Irvine, is a leading figure among the new generation of analysts of the modern Middle East and Islam, and a musician who has performed with artists like Mick Jagger. For the last six years he has lived and worked in the Middle East, dodging terrorist bombs, standing against bulldozers and sharing the lives of the people who form the subject of his work. Historical consultant for the Oscar-nominated and double Emmy award-winning Promises documentary, he has made numerous television and radio appearances and his work has been extensively quoted in leading newspapers such as the NY Times and the Washington Post.