Ervand Abrahamian is distinguished professor of Iranian and Middle Eastern history and politics at Baruch College, City University of New York. He is a co-author (with Bruce Cumings and Moshe Ma’oz) of Inventing the Axis of Evil: The Truth About North Korea, Iran, and Syria and the author of The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern U.S.-Iranian Relations, both published by The New Press. The Coup was selected as the history book of the year by a committee of independent public intellectuals in Iran. Abrahamian was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2010. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.