Alexander Thurston is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati. He previously taught at Georgetown University and the University of Miami. He studies Islam and politics in Northwest Africa, focusing on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Dr. Thurston holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Northwestern University and an MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University. His recent publications include Jihadists in North Africa and the Sahel: Local Politics and Insurgent Groups (Cambridge University Press, 2020); Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement (Princeton University Press, 2018); and Salafism in Nigeria: Islam, Preaching, and Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2016).