Studied ancient history and archaeology, Birmingham University; PhD, Cambridge University. 1987-95, taught at the University of Chicago. With Stanford University: has served as Associate Dean, Humanities and Sciences; Chair, Classics Department; Director, Social Science History Institute; founded and directed the Stanford Archaeology Center; 2000-06, directed the university's excavation at Monte Polizzo, Sicily; currently, Willard Professor of Classics and Professor of History. Fellow: Guggenheim Foundation; National Endowment for the Humanities; Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington DC; Institute for Research in the Humanities, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Has published extensively on the history and archaeology of the ancient Mediterranean and on world history. Author of Why the West Rules--For Now, which compares East and West across the last 15,000 years, arguing that geography rather than culture, religion, politics, genetics or great men explains Western domination of the globe.