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Expert Bio
Max Boot is a historian, best-selling author and foreign-policy analyst who has been called one of the “world’s leading authorities on armed conflict” by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow in national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a columnist for The Washington Post.
Max Boot is now writing a biography of Ronald Reagan for Norton/Liveright. His previous biography, The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam (Norton/Liveright, 2018), was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in biography.
Boot is also the author of four other widely acclaimed books: The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right (2018); the New York Times bestseller Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present (2013); War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today (2006); and The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power (2002), which won the 2003 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award from the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation as the best nonfiction book pertaining to Marine Corps history and has been placed on military professional reading lists.
Boot has been a CNN analyst and a regular guest on MSNBC, NPR, BBC, and many other radio and television programs. In addition to being a Pulitzer finalist, he was named in 2018 one of America’s “Great Immigrants” by the Carnegie Corporation and one of the 50 most influential Jewish Americans by the Forward newspaper.
Before joining the Council on Foreign Relations in 2002, Boot was the op-ed editor at The Wall Street Journal and, before that, an editor and writer at the Christian Science Monitor. He has also been a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the New York Times, Foreign Policy, Commentary, and many other publications.
Boot holds a bachelor’s degree in history, with high honors, from the University of California at Berkeley (1991) and a master’s degree in history from Yale University (1992). He was born in Moscow, grew up in Los Angeles and now lives in the New York area.
Affiliations:
- Intelligence Squared US, board of directors
- Washington Post, columnist
Current Projects
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Panelists discuss the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September and its implications for the future of the country. The CFR Young Professionals Briefing Series provides an opportunity for those early in their careers to engage with CFR. The briefings feature remarks by experts on critical global issues and lessons learned in their careers. These events are intended for individuals who have completed their undergraduate studies and have not yet reached the age of thirty to be eligible for CFR term membership. Please note only U.S. citizens are eligible for CFR membership.
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Max Boot discusses his new book, The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam.
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Joshua Kurlantzick discusses his new book, A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA.
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Experts discuss the Islamic State group and possible U.S. options in responding to the crisis in Iraq and Syria.
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Experts discuss latest developments in Iraq and options for dealing with them.
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Experts discuss managing risk in military planning, the effects of sequestration on defense, and tradeoffs between risk and available resources.
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5:30 – 6:00 p.m. Reception6:00 – 7:00 p.m. Meeting7:00 – 7:30 p.m. Cocktail Reception and Book signing