Mr. Makiya gained world fame after the publication of his first novel, Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq, a rare view inside Saddam Hussein’s Iraq published in 1989, became a best-seller at the onset of the first Gulf War. His 1993 book Cruelty and Silence: War, Tyranny, Uprising and the Arab World was awarded the Lionel Gelber Prize for best book in international relations published in English for that year.  Along with writing, Mr. Makiya acted as head of the Human Rights Committee of the Iraqi National Congress, a parliament established in northern Iraq. He has directed various documentaries, including the award-winning film Saddam’s Killing Fields, a focus on the 1988 mass murder ordered by Hussein of the Kurdish population in northern Iraq.

Today, Mr. Makiya is the Sylvia K. Hassenfeld Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University.

Born in Baghdad, Mr. Makiya studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).  Upon his return to Iraq, he first pursued the study of architecture before moving his focus to human rights.