Paul Kennedy

Paul Kennedy is the rare historian whose work escaped the seminar room. I first encountered him through The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, and his core argument, that overstretched empires eventually buckle under the economic cost of their own ambitions, still feels uncomfortably relevant. What I respect is that he didn't retreat into pure academia after the Wolfson History Prize and his British Academy fellowship. He keeps writing for The New York Times and The Atlantic, translating grand strategy into language ordinary readers can grasp. That willingness to engage the public, rather than guard expertise behind jargon, is something I wish more scholars shared.

Name (English)

Paul Kennedy

Name (Japanese)

ポール・ケネディ

Reading

ぽーる・けねでぃ

Born

June 17, 1945 (age 81)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Gemini / Rooster

Origin

Wallsend, United Kingdom

Occupation

geopolitical analyst / university teacher / historian

High school

St. Cuthbert's High School

University

St Antony's College

Awards & achievements

• 1989 Wolfson History Prize
• Fellow of the British Academy
• Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
• 2005 Caird Medal
• 2014 Hattendorf Prize
• Julian Corbett Prize in Naval History

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9D%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B1%E3%83%8D%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3

Tags

• geopolitical analyst
• university teacher
• historian

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.