Michael Gregory Morony (born September 30, 1939) has been a professor of history at
UCLA since 1974, with interests in the history of
Ancient and
IslamicNear East.[1][2]
Morony was born in 1939 in Sacramento and was raised in Alaska. He holds a BA in Near Eastern Languages from the
University of California, Berkeley, and an MA in Islamic Studies and a PhD (1972) in History from the
University of California, Los Angeles.[2] His dissertation, originally advised by
Gustave von Grunebaum, was concerned with the history of Mesopotamia after the Islamic Conquests.[3] 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.[3]
Morony's research is mostly concerned with the
economic history of the
Near East,
North Africa and
Muslim Iberia. He has written many articles on the subject and is considered [by whom?] one of the authorities on the socio-economic history of the region in the pre-modern period.[3]
Morony, Michael G. (2007). "For whom does the writer write?: the first bubonic plague pandemic according to Syriac sources". In
Little, Lester K. (ed.). Plague and the end of antiquity : the pandemic of 541-750. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN978-0-521-84639-4.