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Biographical Sketch of Daniel Pipes

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Daniel Pipes is president of the Middle East Forum and a historian. A columnist for The Washington Times, his special interests include the public role of Islam, Turkey, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and the liberal-conservative divide. He recently finished a book titled "Israel Victory: How Zionists Win Acceptance and Palestinians Get Liberated."

Bio, short version.

His website, DanielPipes.org, offers an archive of his work of over 55 years and an opportunity to sign up to receive e-mails of his current writings. With 88 million page visits, it is one of the Internet's most accessed sources of specialized information on the Middle East and Muslim history. He tweets at @DanielPipes.

CBS Sunday Morning says Daniel Pipes was "years ahead of the curve in identifying the threat of radical Islam." "Unnoticed by most Westerners," he wrote, for example, in 1995, "war has been unilaterally declared on Europe and the United States." The Boston Globe states that "If Pipes's admonitions had been heeded, there might never have been a 9/11." The Wall Street Journal calls Mr. Pipes "an authoritative commentator on the Middle East" and the Washington Post deems him both "a prominent conservative intellectual" and "perhaps the most prominent U.S. scholar on radical Islam." The New York Times calls him "smart and well-informed."

Mr. Pipes received his A.B. (1971) and Ph.D. (1978) from Harvard University, both in history, and spent six years studying abroad, including three years in Egypt. Mr. Pipes speaks French, and reads Arabic and German. He has taught at Harvard, Pepperdine, the U.S. Naval War College, and the University of Chicago. He was affiliated with Princeton in 1977-78 and a fellow at the Hoover Institution in 2008-12. He served in five presidential administrations between 1982 and 2005, including two presidentially-appointed positions, vice chairman of the Fulbright Board of Foreign Scholarships and board member of the U.S. Institute of Peace. He was director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, 1986-93.

Mr. Pipes discusses current issues on television on such U.S. programs as ABC World News, Crossfire, Good Morning America, Nightline, O'Reilly Factor, PBS NewsHour, and The Today Show. He has appeared on leading television networks around the globe, including the BBC and Al-Jazeera, and has lectured in 25 countries. He has publicly debated leading figures, including Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Corbyn, and Ken Livingstone.

More than 100 newspapers have carried his articles, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. He has been a columnist for the New York Post, the New York Sun, and The New York Times Syndicate. Mr. Pipes has published in such magazines as the Atlantic Monthly, Commentary, Economist, Foreign Affairs, Harper's, National Review, New Republic, Newsweek, and Time.

Mr. Pipes has written seventeen books:

Four deal with Islam: Face à l'islam radical (co-authored with Guy Millière, French: David Reinharc, 2012), The Rushdie Affair (Birch Lane, 1990), In the Path of God (Basic Books, 1983), and Slave Soldiers and Islam (Yale University Press, 1981).

Three books concern Syria: Syria Beyond the Peace Process (Washington Institute, 1996), Damascus Courts the West (Washington Institute, 1991), and Greater Syria (Oxford University Press, 1990).

Two deal with other Middle Eastern topics: The Hidden Hand (St. Martin's, 1996) analyzes conspiracy theories among Arabs and Iranians. An Arabist's Guide to Colloquial Egyptian (Foreign Service Institute, 1983) systematizes the grammar of Arabic as spoken in Egypt.

Conspiracy (Free Press 1997) establishes the importance of conspiracy theories in modern Europe and America.

Seven volumes contain some of his best essays: Islamism vs. The West (Wicked Son, 2023), Nothing Abides (Transaction, 2015), Löwengrube (German: Critic, 2012), L'islam radical à la conquête du monde (French: Cheminements, 2008), Miniatures (Transaction, 2003), Militant Islam Reaches America (WW Norton, 2002), and The Long Shadow (Transaction, 1989).

In addition, Mr. Pipes has edited two collections of essays by multiple authors: Sandstorm (UPA, 1993) and Friendly Tyrants (St. Martin's, 1991). He has published 1,500 articles, 1,500 weblog entries, 700 book reviews, and 12,000 tweets. There are 17,000 translations of his writings into 39 languages, appearing in such publications as ABC (Spain), Corriere della Sera, Le Figaro, and Neue Zürcher Zeitung.

Mr. Pipes has edited two journals, Orbis (1986-90) and the Middle East Quarterly (1994-2001). He sits on several editorial boards, has testified before many congressional committees, and worked on six presidential campaigns. Universities in the United States and Switzerland have conferred honorary degrees on him.

Mr. Pipes takes pride in having been Borked by Edward Kennedy, called an "Orientalist" by Edward Said, insulted by Lyndon LaRouche, deemed the neo-conservative movement's "leading thinker" by Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper, and publicly invited to convert by a top Al-Qaeda figure. He has also been recognized as one of Harvard University's 100 most influential living graduates and listed in Marquis Who's Who in the World.

Mr Pipes founded the Middle East Forum in 1994 as a traditional think tank focused on the region and influencing U.S. policy toward it through publications (including the Middle East Quarterly) and media appearances. With time, MEF morphed into a "think and activist tank": Campus Watch critiques Middle East studies, Islamist Watch combats non-violent jihadis, the Legal Project protects writers and others who discuss Islamism, and the Washington Project educates the administration and Congress. The Israel Victory Project, which calls for a Palestinian defeat, is the Forum's most high-profile campaign. The Forum, a non-profit 501c3 organization, has a $5 million annual budget, about one-third of which is devoted to an Education Fund that distributes funds to allies working for similar goals.

Updated November 2023

Biographical articles about Daniel Pipes

Items are listed in reverse order of date

Title Publication Date
Richard Pipes July 11, 2023
The Intrepid Duo: Pipes, Father and Son Gatestone Institute May 20, 2019
The Misguided Campaign against Daniel Pipes Australia Broadcast Corporation (ABC) March 23, 2018
Once considered anti-Islam, senior scholar says he's now in the middle (94 comments) The Washington Post August 18, 2010
Recruiting Soldiers Against Radical Islam (283 comments) FrontPageMagazine.com April 2, 2007
Daniel Pipes fights the worldwide threat of Islamism - from Malibu (40 comments) Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles March 6, 2007
Radical Departure (2 comments) Philadelphia Magazine January 2007
Militant about "Islamism" Harvard Magazine January-February 2005
[Flemming Rose interview:] The Threat of Islamism Jyllands-Posten October 29, 2004
Pipes Objects to Fox in the Henhouse (2 comments) Insight Magazine March 19, 2004
Truth on Terror (1 comments) World Magazine October 11, 2003
Where's the Muslim Debate? (33 comments) Wall St. Journal May 22, 2003
Muslims for Pipes (14 comments) New York Sun April 21, 2003
Smearing Daniel Pipes New York Post April 21, 2003
Terror's Nemesis New York Post April 6, 2003
Daniel Pipes Visits Hamilton College (1 comments) Capitalism Magazine March 31, 2003
Pipes' London lecture surprisingly low key London Free Press March 25, 2003
Writer Daniel Pipes is a Lightning Rod in the Post-9/11 World (2 comments) Newhouse News Service March 14, 2003
Islam's Battle with a Hostile World (3 comments) Financial Times Weekend January 11, 2003
Speech Down the Pipes National Review Online January 7, 2003
Daniel (Pipes) in the Lions' Den Where-What-When December 2002
Pipes' Dreams (29 comments) Philadelphia City Paper July 18, 2002
Radical Islam vs. Academic Freedom Midstream May/June 2002
Radical Islam vs. Academic Freedom: One Example (17 comments) FrontPageMagazine.com April 29, 2002
Islam Expert in Demand (3 comments) Boston Phoenix December 19, 2001
Islam Expert Suddenly in the Spotlight (1 comments) Philadelphia Inquirer November 29, 2001
Yes Related No. 3: The Pipes, the Pipes Are Calling (1 comments) Slate.com November 28, 2001
Daniel Pipes: Prophet (4 comments) Lifestyles Magazine Summer 2000
Son creates his own footsteps through Middle East Politics The Canberra Times November 30, 1998
A Contract for "The Ayatollah, the Novelist and the West" is Canceled New York Times July 19, 1989

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