John McHugo is an Arabist and an international lawyer. The author of A Concise History of the Arabs (a Choice Outstanding Academic Title) and Syria: A History of the Last Hundred Years (both published by The New Press), McHugo was shortlisted for the Salon Transmission Prize in 2014. His writing has been featured in History Today, The World Today, and on the BBC News website. He is a member of the Council for Arab-British Understanding’s executive committee, the chair of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine, and a director of the British-Egyptian Society’s supervisory board. He lives in London.