Printable Biography of Benjamin Barber

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An internationally renowned political theorist, Dr. Barber brings an abiding concern for democracy and citizenship to issues of politics, culture and education in America and abroad. He consults regularly with political and civic leaders in the United States and Europe, including Governor Howard Dean, Governor Jim McGreevey of New Jersey, former President Bill Clinton, former Senator Bill Bradley, and former President Roman Herzog of Germany. He has also consulted with the Corporation for National Service, the United States Information Agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities; and in Europe, UNESCO, the European Parliament, the Swedish Parliamentary Commission on Democracy and "Mission 2000" (the French Millennial Commission).

Benjamin Barber's 17 books include the classic STRONG DEMOCRACY (1984) reissued in 2004 in a twentieth anniversary edition; the recent international best-seller JIHAD VS. MCWORLD (1995 with a Post 9/11 Edition in 2001, translated into twenty languages) and FEAR'S EMPIRE: WAR, TERRORISM AND DEMOCRACY (2003), also published in eight foreign editions. His collected American essays, A PASSION FOR DEMOCRACY, were published by Princeton University Press in 1999, and his book THE TRUTH OF POWER: INTELLECTUAL AFFAIRS IN THE CLINTON WHITE HOUSE was published in 2001 by W.W. Norton & Company. He is currently working on THE DECLINE OF CAPITALISM AND THE INFANTILIST ETHOS, to be published next year.

Barber's honors include a knighthood (Palmes Academiques/Chevalier) from the French Government (2001), the Berlin Prize of the American Academy of Berlin (2001) and the John Dewey Award (2003). He has also been awarded Guggenheim, Fulbright, and Social Science Research Fellowships, honorary doctorates from Grinnell College, Monmouth University and Connecticut College, and has held the chair of American Civilization at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris in 1991-92. He writes frequently for HARPER'S MAGAZINE, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE ATLANTIC, THE NATION, LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR, DIE ZEIT, LA REPUBBLICA, EL PAIS and many other scholarly and popular publications in America and Europe. He was a founding editor and for ten years editor-in-chief of the distinguished international quarterly POLITICAL THEORY. He holds a certificate from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an M.A. and Doctorate from Harvard University.

For television, Barber co-wrote with Patrick Watson the prize-winning CBS/PBS ten-part series THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY (1988, re-released in 2000) and the companion book; he also contributed to the Channel Four (U.K.) series GREEK FIRE, as well as to the American series THE AMERICAN PROMISE and other educational documentaries. His work for the theater includes the libretto for George Quincy's opera HOME AND THE RIVER (produced in New York), the performance piece KASPAR (produced at Caf?a Mama in New York) created with his wife, the choreographer and performer Leah Kreutzer, and other dramatic musical works off-Broadway and in regional theaters. His novel MARRIAGE VOICES was published by Simon & Schuster in 1981.