Walter Russell Mead is the Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at Hudson Institute, the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College, and the Global View Columnist at The Wall Street Journal. From 1997 to 2010, Mr. Mead was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, serving as the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy from 2003 until his departure. He is a member of Aspen Institute Italy.
His book, Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World (Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), was widely hailed by reviewers, historians, and diplomats as an important study that will change the way Americans and others think about American foreign policy. Among several honors and prizes, Special Providence received the Lionel Gelber Award for best book in English on international relations in 2002. In 2012, the Foreign Policy Research Institute awarded him its Benjamin Franklin Prize for his work in the field of American foreign policy.
Mr. Mead’s most recent book, The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People, examines Israeli-American relations and explores how American identities across the political and religious spectrum have supported an independent Jewish state, dispelling the myth of the “Israel lobby” by highlighting the real sources of Israel’s support.
Mr. Mead writes on a wide variety of subjects ranging from international affairs to religion, politics, culture, education and the media. He has contributed to a wide variety of leading American journals ranging from Mother Jones to GQ. He serves as a regular reviewer of books for Foreign Affairs and frequently appears on national and international radio and television programs.