Paul du Quenoy is a professor in the Department of History and Archaeology at the American University of Beirut, where he specializes in Russian and European History. In the summers of 2006 and 2007, Professor du Quenoy was Resident Director of the Council on International Educational Exchange’s (CIEE) study program in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he had previously been a Fulbright-Hays scholar. Prior to his assumption of these posts, he taught history at Georgetown University and the American University in Cairo and was a fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC. Professor du Quenoy’s research expertise is in the history of the performing arts. His recent book, Stage Fright: Politics and the Performing Arts in Late Imperial Russia, was published by Penn State University Press in 2009, and his next book, Wagner and the French Muse: Music, Society, and Nation in Modern France, will appear in 2011. Professor du Quenoy has also published two edited books in European and Russian history as well as numerous scholarly articles in the Journal of World History, International History Review, and Security Studies, among other periodicals. Currently he is conducting research on the relationship between Russia and the Mediterranean world, especially the Middle East. In addition to his academic work, he frequently comments in the global media on international affairs, lectures on cultural topics for arts institutions and cruise ship lines, advises real estate, travel and tourism, and venture capital concerns on international business transactions, and works as a free lance music critic in the great theatrical capitals of the world.