USCHS Alum Publishes First Book

The book explores how Cannon’s experiences as a U.S. Marine – including multiple deployments to Iraq and participation in the 2003 invasion – shaped his understanding of The Iliad, the ancient Greek epic of the Trojan War.

Blending memoir, literary analysis and historical insight, Cannon draws upon stories from his military service and his later career as an archaeologist. He has spent nearly a decade excavating sites in Turkey, focusing on the Hittites, a people contemporaneous with the Trojans that interacted closely with them.

As a student at the Upper St. Clair High School, Cannon was named Volunteer of the Year in 1998 and served as co-captain of the wrestling team during the 1999-2000 season. 

Cannon now serves as the director of research for the University of Pittsburgh's Frederick Honors College. He also teaches part-time in Pitt's departments of Classics and Anthropology and is a research associate with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

He earned a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in anthropology and linguistics from the University of Pittsburgh and both a master’s and doctorate in Near Eastern languages and civilizations from the University of Chicago. In 2010, he was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.