Robert D. Kaplan

Contributing editor of The Atlantic Monthly and twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, Kaplan has been a free-lance writer for over 20 years. Kaplan has lived and travelled extensively in the Middle East, Europe and Asia cultivating a global perspective that has permeated his work including Balkan Ghosts (named by the New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of the year) ; The Arabists: The Romance of an American Elite, and The Ends of the Earth: A Journey at the Dawn of the 21st Century. He is also the author of books about the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan. A fellow of the World Economic Forum and a consultant to the U.S. Army's Special Forces Regiment, Kaplan lectures frequently at the U.S. military academies; and at universities including Harvard and the Wharton School of Business.