Page 48 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol I - Abraham to Coal

About

the Editors

JERRY H. BENTLEY is Professor of History at the Uni- daughter (Emily) living in Australia. He enjoys hiking,
versity of Hawaii and editor of the award-winning Jour- traveling, playing chess and singing (friends travel long
nal of World History published by the World History distances to avoid his rendition of Stenka Razin). He is
Association. His early publications focused on European the author of Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big His-
cultural history, particularly on the religious, moral, and tory; A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia:
political thought of Renaissance humanists. More Volume 1: Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol
recently his research has concentrated on the history of Empire; Imperial and Soviet Russia: Power, Privilege and
cross-cultural interactions. His recent publications in- the Challenge of Modernity; and Living Water:Vodka and
clude Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Russian Society on the Eve of Emancipation.
Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times, Shapes of World History
in Twentieth-Century Scholarship, and (with Herbert F. DAVID LEVINSON is a cultural anthropologist spe-
Ziegler) Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective cializing in the comparative study of human culture.
on the Past.When he is not attempting to peer into the Having grown up in Newark, New Jersey, he has also
global past, he can usually be found either on the tennis had a strong interest in social issues and ethnic rela-
courts or in the swimming pool. tions. After three years as a medic in the U.S. army
(1966–1969) he returned to school and earned a Ph.D.
DAVID CHRISTIAN was born in New York and raised in cultural anthropology at SUNY/Buffalo. His early
in Nigeria and England. Fascinated with the Soviet research was on social issues including homelessness
Union, the “dark side” for so many living in the “West,” and the treatment of substance abuse. In the early
he learned Russian and spent ten months doing gradu- 1980s he gained some notoriety when he suggested
ate research in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). He met his that Alcoholics Anonymous was no more effective than
wife, Chardi, in London, Ontario, where they both acted several other approaches to alcoholism treatment. From
in a summer-stock repertory company. In spite of ambi- 1975 to 1997 he was with the Human Relations Area
tions to become an actor, he gained a doctorate from Files at Yale University, latterly as vice-president, and left
Oxford University, and landed a job at Macquarie Uni- only to found the Berkshire Publishing Group with
versity in Sydney. He naturally gravitated toward world Karen Christensen in an interesting match of marriage
history, and in the late 1980s, started teaching a course and business. He has edited several multi-volume ency-
that began with the origins of the universe. In 2001 he clopedias and is author of Ethnic Groups Worldwide,
took a position at San Diego State University, where he Toward Explaining Human Culture, and Tribal Living
teaches world history, environmental history, and Rus- Book, which helps children to better understand other
sian history to classes ranging in size from 10 to 500 stu- cultures by making blowguns and bear traps. He is cur-
dents. He has a son (Joshua) living in England and a rently, in addition to publishing duties, writing a history

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