Brian Fagan was born in England, was educated at the University of Cambridge, and worked in Central Africa before beginning his teaching career at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1967. He is now emeritus. One of the world’s leading archaeological lecturers and writers, Fagan is the author of numerous general books on archaeology. His most recent books are Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind, Beyond the Blue Horizon: How the Earliest Mariners Unlocked the Secrets of the Oceans, and The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels, all published by Bloomsbury Press in New York.