is an English historian and biographer. He is the Lehrman Institute Distinguished Fellow at the New York Historical Society and Visiting Professor of War Studies at King’s College, London. He is, in addition, the Director of the Harry Guggenheim Foundation in New York and Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Dr Roberts has written extensively on modern history and his nineteen published books, which include Masters and Commanders and The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War, have received numerous awards and been translated into twenty-two languages. His recent biography on Napoleon won the Grand Prix of the Fondation Napoléon and the Los Angeles Times Biography Prize for 2015.
Dr Roberts’ deftness in articulating complex historical material has led to his far-reaching engagement outside the academy, demonstrated in 2007 by his invitation to give the White House Lecture. Dr Roberts’ scholarly analyses of the struggles of the recent past have informed his concerned view of the present. He sees the careful study of history as an important intellectual process that offers unity and moral clarity to the present generation. His public voice is heard as a regular contributor to many journals, including The Wall Street Journal, Commentary Magazine, Literary Review, and The Spectator, where he often portrays, with the long view of an historian, the qualities of effective leadership and democratic integrity. Roberts sits on the boards or advisory councils of a number of think tanks, including Policy Exchange, The Centre for Policy Studies, The Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, The UK National Defence Association, The London Jewish Cultural Centre, and Intelligence Squared US’s Intelligence Council.
