Photo: US Naval War College / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
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.
Overview
Paul Michael Kennedy (born 17 June 1945) is a British historian specialising in the history of international relations, economic power and grand strategy. He is on the editorial board of numerous scholarly journals and writes for The New York Times, The Atlantic, and many foreign-language newspapers and magazines. His monthly column on current global matters is distributed worldwide by the Tribune Content Agency.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- 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 80)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Rooster
- Origin
- Wallsend, United Kingdom
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- geopolitical analyst / university teacher / historian
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- 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
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
University teacher — see all → · More people from United Kingdom →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.