Max Boot, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow for National Security Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Author of 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)

Drawing on his new book, Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present (W.W. Norton & Co., 2013), he will examine the origins of guerrilla warfare, show what’s changed and what hasn’t over the ages, then look at how various states have attempted to fight insurgents, and conclude by showing why it matters for the future of the world to understand this potent threat. 

Max Boot is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and one of America's leading military historians and foreign-policy analysts. He has advised military commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his books have been assigned reading by the military services. He has lectured on behalf of the U.S. State Department and at many military institutions, including the Army, Navy, and Air War Colleges, the Australian Defense College, the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare School, and West Point.  He was a senior foreign policy adviser to the McCain campaign in 2007-2008 and a defense policy adviser to the Romney campaign in 2011-2012. He is the author of two-widely acclaimed books: The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power and War Made New: Technology, Warfare, and the Course of History, 1500 to Today. His newest book, Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present, was released by W.W. Norton & Co. in January 2013. He is a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard and The Los Angeles Times, a blogger for Commentary, and a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other publications.  He is a frequent public speaker and guest on radio and television news programs, both at home and abroad.  In 2004, he was named by the World Affairs Councils of America as one of "the 500 most influential people in the United States in the field of foreign policy." In 2007, he won the Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism, given annually to a writer who exhibits "love of country and its democratic institutions" and "bears witness to the evils of totalitarianism." Mr. Boot holds a bachelor's degree in History, with high honors, from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in History from Yale University.  He was born in Russia, grew up in Los Angeles, and now lives with his family in the New York area.