Craig Benjamin is Professor of History Emeritus at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, where he taught big history and ancient world history. Craig is a frequent guest presenter at conferences worldwide, and the author of several books and numerous chapters and articles on world history. Recent books include Big History: Between Nothing and Everything (McGraw-Hill, 2014); Volume 4 of the Cambridge History of the World (Cambridge University Press, 2015); Empires of Ancient Eurasia. The First Silk Roads Era 100 BCE – 250 CE (CUP, 2018); The Routledge Companion to Big History (Routledge, 2019); and Traditions and Encounters. A Global Perspective on the Past (McGraw-Hill 2020).

Craig has recorded programs and courses for the History Channel and Discovery Channel, and three courses for the Great Courses company – Foundations of Eastern Civilization, Big History of Civilization, and the Mongol Empire. He is a frequent lecturer on cruises all over the world, including for Scientific American and New York Times Journeys, and also on numerous land tours to China, Mongolia and Central Asia. Craig served for several years as Chair of the College Board’s Advanced Placement and SAT World History exam committees. He is a Past-President of the World History Association, and served as an executive officer on the Board of the International Big History Association from 2011 to 2018. Before becoming an historian, Craig was a professional jazz musician in his native Australia. Craig has also been an adventurer for much of his life and has trekked and climbed in most of the great mountain ranges on the planet.