Professor, History

mmcgrath@adrian.edu

Degrees

Princeton University, Ph.D., East Asian Studies and History

Specialties

modern terrorism
middle east
east asian
chinese philosophy

Biography

Professor McGrath began teaching at Adrian College in 1983. He attended Princeton University as an undergraduate (summa cum laude, awarded thesis prize, East Asian Studies, 1964) and as a graduate student (East Asian Studies and History, 1982). Between his sophomore year and his junior year he served in the US Army, reaching the rank of Captain. After a retirement of four years, McGrath returned to teach Islamic Civilization, Modern Middle East, Modern Terrorism, Medieval Europe, and Chinese Philosophy. His most recent publications include “Frustrated Empires: The Song-Xia War of 1038-44,” p.151-190 in Don J. Wyatt, ed., Battlefronts Real and Imagined: War, Border, and Identity in the Chinese Middle Period, pp.151-190. NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, and "The Reigns of Jen-tsung (1022- 1063) and Ying-tsung (1063-67)," Chapter 4, in Denis C. Twitchett and Paul Jakov Smith, ed., The Cambridge History of China, v.5, Part One (The Sung Dynasty and Its Predecessors, 907-1279, p.279-346, Cambridge University Press, 2009. In fall 2010 he was awarded the Ross Newsom Teaching Excellence Award. He has given the Baccalaureate speech five times and the December graduation speech twice.