Morris Rossabi is Distinguished Professor of History atCity University of New York and Adjunct Professor at ColumbiaUniversity. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, he received a Ph.D. inChinese and Central Asian History at Columbia University. Heis the author of many books on Asian history, including ModernMongolia: From Khans to Commissars to Capitalists (2005),Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times (1988 and 2009), andVoyager from Xanadu: Rabban Sauma and the First Journey fromChina to the West (1992). Formerly Chair of the Arts andCultures Board of the Open Society Institute, he has collaboratedon exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the ClevelandMuseum of Art.