Timothy Snyder is an American historian and professor at Yale University who specializes in Eastern European history and political science. He is notably recognized for his expertise on the Holocaust, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe, particularly Poland and Ukraine. Snyder was born in 1969 in Ohio. He graduated from Brown University and earned his doctorate from the University of Oxford. His academic career is distinguished by his analyses of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes in Europe, particularly focusing on Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Snyder’s extensive research and academic contributions have been instrumental in understanding the historical influences and consequences of authoritarian regimes in shaping 20th-century Europe.

Snyder is well known for the connections he makes between historical facts and contemporary politics. He is widely read by both the academic and non-academic public. Some of his critically acclaimed books are Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010), On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017), and Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning (2015). These works examine the historical forces in Eastern Europe and their devastating human consequences, framing them within a broader context of political theory and moral philosophy. Snyder’s analysis often explores the themes of memory, tyranny, and the misuse of history for political purposes.