William Pfaff, Columnist

William Pfaff is a globally respected political commentator and author on international relations, contemporary history and U.S. policy. He is published in five countries and his column is syndicated by Tribune Media Services.

Pfaff’s sometimes controversial opinions on international law, long-term U.S. policies and American foreign relations are noted for their deep concern with the influence of history on today’s affairs and their attention to the moral complexities of international politics and action.

Pfaff’s column studies European, Middle Eastern, Asian and American concerns through a prism influenced by the experiences of an American living abroad. He is regularly published in newspapers in Europe, the Middle and Far East, Latin America and the United States.

Pfaff is the author of eight books, including “The Wrath of Nations” (Simon and Schuster, 1993) and “Barbarian Sentiments: America in the New Century” (Hill and Wang, 2000). His latest book is “Fear, Anger and Failure: A Chronicle of the Bush Administration’s War Against Terror from the Attacks of September 11, 2001 to Defeat in Baghdad” (Algora Publishing, 2004). It offers a collection of his columns on the war on terror, from September 11th until December 2003, when the U.S. policy emphasis shifted from Iraq’s reconstruction to American withdrawal. The book has been praised by Russell Baker of The New York Times as “page after page in article after article {Pfaff was writing} what should have been said week after week as Bush’s cheery civilian warriors marched us into the Middle East. Really splendid work.”

Pfaff has contributed many political essays to The New Yorker magazine. In Europe, his articles have appeared in Commentaire (Paris), Lettre Internationale (Berlin), Politique Exterior (Madrid), Europaische Rundschau (Vienna), Moderna Tider (Stockholm), Forum (Munich), Die Zeit (Hamburg). In the United States he is published in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, World Policy Journal, and The National Interest, among other magazines. Pfaff is the former deputy director of Hudson Research Europe, the European affiliate of the well-known American policy research institute.

Pfaff is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He is based in Paris.