ALAN RUSH is a leading British historical researcher, consultant and writer with a special interest in the Middle East. Based in London and Cairo he is currently working on Egyptian social history and the history of the ahl al-bayt (family of the Prophet Muhammad) focussing on the Sharifs of Mecca and the affairs of the Hashemite royal families of Jordan and Iraq.
Born of Anglo-Irish and Danish parentage in July 1936, Alan Rush first worked as a reporter on the Daily Express newspaper (Beaverbrook Press) in London. Later, he joined the editorial staff of The Authors’ and Writers’ Who’s Who, Burke’s Peerage and The International Statesman’s Yearbook (Mercury Publications). In the United States he taught English literature before becoming a style-editor with the Encyclopedia Americana.
He first visited the Middle East in 1970. After teaching in the English Department at Riyadh University (now King Saud University) in Saudi Arabia, he moved to King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz University, Jeddah. From 1975 to 1982 he lectured at Kuwait University and contributed to the Al-Hayat, Kuwait Times, Arab Times and Al-Qabas newspapers.
Since 1982, Alan Rush has travelled throughout the Middle East and undertaken major research projects (see below). He is a specialist in Kuwaiti affairs and the author of Al Sabah: History and Genealogy of Kuwait’s Ruling Family 1752-1987 (Ithaca Press, 1987) He has also compiled and edited important documentary works comprising papers held in the British Foreign Office diplomatic archives and in the archives of the East India Office, British Library (London), the National Archives of India (Delhi), the Middle East Centre, Saint Antony’s College (Oxford), the National Archives (Washington), the Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres (Paris and Nantes) and the League of Nations (Geneva).
In London, Alan Rush has contributed articles to The Independent, Financial Times, The Guardian, Middle East International, the Middle East Economic Digest (MEED) and the Journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs.
His published works include:
Burke’s Ruling Families of the World, Volume 2 (Burke’s Peerage, 1980). Contributor of genealogies and essays on the Al-Sabah (rulers of Kuwait) and on the royal family of Saudi Arabia.
Kuwait: A MEED Practical Guide (Meed, Ltd, London, 1985). Contributor and editorial advisor.
Records of Kuwait (8 vols. Archive Editions, 1989)
Ruling Families of Arabia (10 vols. Archive Editions, 1991)
Records of the Hajj (10 vols. Archive Editions, 1993)
Records of the Hashimite Dynasties: A Twentieth-Century Documentary History of the Royal Families of Jordan, Iraq and the Hijaz (15 vols. Archive Editions, 1995)
Records of Iraq (15 vols. Archive Editions, 2001)
Gerald de Gaury, Three Kings in Baghdad, The Tragedy of Iraq’s Monarchy (new edition, I.B. Tauris, 2008) Introductory essay.
