Malise Ruthven is a writer and historian of the Islamic world, with a focus on religious fundamentalism. He has been a scriptwriter with the BBC Arabic and World Services, and has taught Islamic Studies and Comparative Religion at the University of Aberdeen, the University of California, and at Dartmouth. He is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books , among other publications, and is the author of several other books, including Fury for God and Fundamentalism . Colin Thubron, CBE FRSL FRAS, is a British travel writer and novelist. In 2008, The Times ranked him 45th on their list of the 50 greatest postwar British writers. He is a contributor to The New York Review of Books, The Times, The Times Literary Supplement and The New York Times. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages, and Thubron was appointed a CBE in the 2007 New Year Honours. He is a Fellow and, as of 2010, President of the Royal Society of Literature.