Bernd J. Fischer is Professor Emeritus of History at Purdue University, Fort Wayne. He is the author or editor of numerous works on Albania and the Balkans, most notably King Zog and the Struggle for Stability in Albania (1984), Albania at War 1939-1945 (1999), and Balkan Strongmen: Dictators and Authoritarian Rulers of Southeast Europe (2006). He is a foreign member of the Albanian Academy of Sciences.