This book traces the history of Yale’s endeavours in Near Eastern learning, making extensive use of unpublished archival materials, including letters, diaries and records of institutional decisions. Developments at Yale are set against the wider background of changing American attitudes toward the Near East.
Benjamin R. Foster was appointed to Yale's Department of Near Eastern Languages in 1975. He is Laffan Professor of Assyriology and Babylonian Literature and served as Curator of the Yale Babylonian Collection. He is author and editor of fifteen books and over 250 articles and reviews in Assyriology and the history of Oriental Studies.