Talk:Craig Benjamin

Improvements and edits to this entry

Hi All, Craig Benjamin here, subject of this Wikipedia entry. Someone alerted me to problems with this site. I have no idea of who originally wrote this entry, certainly not me. However, now that I aware of the problems I would like to fix them. I know it is not usual for the subject to contribute to his own biography but I'm not sure what else to do. Below is my attempt to update and improve the entry. I welcome any feedback. Thanks, Craig

Suggested Edits to this Entry

Craig G. R. Benjamin is an Australian-American historian who is Professor of History Emeritus in the Frederik J. Meijer Honors College at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, USA. At GVSU Craig taught East Asian civilization, Big History, ancient Central Asian history, and world history historiography before retiring in 2021 and returning to his native Australia.  In 2014 and 2015 he served as President of the World History Association.

Biography

Benjamin grew up in Brisbane, Australia and in London in the UK. Benjamin pursued an undergraduate degree at the Australian National University in Canberra before dropping out at the age of 19 and spending the next 25 years as a professional musician and jazz educator. As a mature-aged student Craig returned to academia and was eventually awarded a PhD in ancient history from Macquarie University in 2003 with his dissertation titled The Yuezhi: Origin, Migration and the Conquest of Northern Bactria.

Craig and his wife Pamela them emigrated to the United States to take up a tenure-track position in the History Department at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in Michigan. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2009 and to Professor in 2015. He taught full-time in the Meijer Honors College from 2012 to his retirement in 2021.

Benjamin is the author of numerous articles, chapters and books on the ancient history of Central Asia, Big History and world history. He has recorded lectures for the History Channel and the Discovery Channel. Benjamin has also recorded three courses for the Teaching Company's Great Courses series: Foundations of Eastern Civilization, The Big History of Civilizations, and The Mongol Empire. Together with David Christian and Cynthia Brown, he is the author of the first Big History textbook Big History: Between Nothing and Everything, which was published by McGraw-Hill in August 2014.  He is also co-author with Herb Zeigler, the late Jerry Bentley and Heather Streets Salter of the world history textbook Traditions and Encounters. A Global Perspective on the Past, which has been published in multiple editions and formats.

Select Bibliography

Books

·       Worlds of the Silk Roads: Ancient and Modern, Christian, D., and Benjamin, C., eds. (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Silk Roads Studies Series vol. II, 1998)

·       Realms of the Silk Roads: Ancient and Modern, Christian, D., and Benjamin. C., eds. (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Silk Roads Studies Series vol. IV, 2000)

·       Walls and Frontiers in Inner Asian History, Benjamin, C., and Lieu, S., eds. (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Silk Roads Studies Series vol. VI, 2002)

·       The Yuezhi: Origin, Migration and the Conquest of Northern Bactria, Benjamin, C. (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Silk Roads Studies Series vol. XIV, 2007)

·       Between Nothing and Everything: Big History, Christian, D., Brown, C., and Benjamin, C. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2014)

·       Cambridge History of the World Vol. 4: A World with States, Empires, and Networks, 1200 BCE-900 CE, Benjamin, C., ed. Series editor: Weisner-Hanks, M. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015)

·       Empires of Ancient Eurasia, The First Silk Roads Era 100 BCE-250 CE, Benjamin, C. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018)

·       The Routledge Companion to Big History, C. Benjamin, E. Quaedackers and D. Baker eds., London and New York: Routledge, 2019.

·       Traditions and Encounters; A Global Perspective on the Past Comprehensive, 8^th. Edtn, by J. Bentley, H. Zeigler, H. Streets Salter, C. Benjamin, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2025.

External links

·       Grand Valley State University website

·       Craig Benjamin explaining Big History. YouTube

References

1.      Mair, Victor H. (August 2008). "The Yuezhi: Origins, Migration and the Conquest of Northern Bactria. By Craig G. R. Benjamin. Louvain: Brepols, 2006. xviii, 245 pp. $72.00 (paper)". The Journal of Asian Studies. 67 (3): 1081–1084. doi:10.1017/S0021911808001447. ISSN 1752-0401.

2.      Mears, JA. "Big History: Between Nothing and Everything by David Christian, Cynthia Stokes Brown, Craig Benjamin (review)". muse.jhu.edu. Retrieved 24 December 2025.

3.      Ortiz-Delgado, F. M. (2020), 'Craig Benjamin, Empires of Ancient Eurasia. The First Silk Roads Era, 100 BCE–250 CE, Nueva York, Cambridge University Press, 2018' (316 pp.; ISBN 978-1-107-53543-5)

·       "Professor Craig G. Benjamin, PhD". The Teaching Company. Retrieved 29 May 2015.

·       Finch Hamilton, Terri (28 February 2010). "Profile: Grand Valley State University professor and Renaissance Man Craig Benjamin". The Grand Rapids Press. Retrieved 29 May 2015.

I would also like to update the photos in this entry

Posted for editorial consideration by Craig Benjamin Benjamic (talk) 09:27, 24 May 2026 (UTC)

Hi. If you include {{EditCOI}}, your request will be flagged up to other editors for review. However, you need to add inline citations to the text, so that each statement has a footnote, rather than a list of references at the end. You are also more likely to have the edits made if you list them in a "change X to Y" format, as it is then clearer what you want done. Tacyarg (talk) 11:54, 24 May 2026 (UTC)