Magnus T. Bernhardsson Associate Professor of History B.A. 1990, University of Iceland M.A.R. 1992, Yale Divinity School Ph.D., Yale University

Contact
NAB Room 254
Phone: 413.597.2223
mbernhar@williams.edu
Office Hours:
TBA

Biography
Magnus T. Bernhardsson specializes in the modern Middle East, specifically the political and cultural history of Hashmite Iraq (1921-1958). After earning his B.A. degree in theology and political science at the University of Iceland, he came to the United States and completed at Masters Degree in Religion from Yale Divinity School in 1992. After a year in Syria studying Arabic, he returned to Yale and finished a Ph.D in Middle Eastern History in 1999. He is the author of several books and edited volumes including Reclaiming a Plundered Past. Archaeology and Nation Building in Modern Iraq (Texas, 2005). When not playing soccer with his children, he is researching and writing a book on religion and nationalism in modern Iraq.

Courses Taught
History 111(F09) Movers and Shakers in the Middle East
History 201(F09) History Behind the Headlines
History 207(S10) The Modern Middle East
History 307(S08) Islam and Modernity
History 310(S09) Iran and Iraq in the 20th Century
History 311(S06) The United States and the Middle East
History 476(F05) Apocalypse Now and Then
History 480T(F09) Historical Narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Selected Publications
Editor, with Abbas Amanat, U.S-Middle Eastern Historical Encounters. A Critical Survey (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2007).
Editor, with Hanna Ragnarsdottir and Elsa Jonsdottir, Fjölmenning á Íslandi [in Icelandic] (e. Multiculturalism in Iceland) (Reykjavik: University of Iceland Press, 2007).
Reclaiming a Plundered Past. Archaeology and Nation Building in Modern Iraq (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005).
Píslarvottar Nútímans. Íslam í Írak og Íran [in Icelandic] (e. Martyrs of Modernity. Islam in Iraq and Iran) (Reykjavik: Mál og Menning, 2005).
Editor, with Abbas Amanat, Imagning the End. Visions of Apocalypse from the Ancient Middle East to North America (London: I.B. Tauris, 2001).

Research Interests
Modern Middle Eastern history, Modern Iraq, Nationalism, US-Iraqi relations, History of Archaeology.

Theses Advised
Sarah Whitton '05 - Fighting the Dead Hands of Sarah. Premillennialists, Arabs and Islam from Balfour to Babylon
Marissa Doran '05 - Pulling Teeth. Energy and Crisis in the Carter Era 1976-1981
Zachary Ulman '06 - What Kind of Israel Do We Want? Israel's Existential Crisis and Battle Over Rabins Legacy
Karl Naden '06 - Securing the American Stake in Iraqi Oil. The Open Door Policy in American Foreign Oil Policy, 1922-1931
Jimmy Bierman '08 - Interventions: Lebanon 1958-1982
Galen Jackson '09 - Militarized Democracy: The American Reactions to the Coups in Turkey

Program Connections at Williams
International Studies and Middle East Studies.


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