Jay Winik

Jay Winik is "one of the nation's leading public historians" (Baltimore Sun), and a "born storyteller" (New York Times), world renowned for his gifted and creative approaches to history. A much acclaimed New York Times best-selling author many times over, his number one best-selling April 1865 is considered one of the finest works of history in the last 40 years, and has a global reputation. He is the Fox News Presidential Historian, including for such high-profile events as the last three presidential inaugurations, and was the historian to the National Geographic Network and the History Channel. The Council on Foreign Relations made him their inaugural Historian-in-Residence. He is the pioneer of major turning points in history.

As an historian, Winik has uniquely stood at the nexus of history and public policy. One of those whom most turn to for a keen historical perspective on political and current events, he frequently advises officials at the highest levels, from Presidents to Members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices and Cabinet Members, about lessons from history for today's pressing issues. He appears on page one of President George Bush's memoirs; Bush read Winik's April 1865 just after 9/11 and the photograph of the president carrying his book to Camp David went around the world; and the Wall Street Journal recommended Winik's best-selling April 1865 as the first book that President Obama should read for his second term.  The book was also turned into an award-winning TV special on the History Channel watched by more than 50 million people. On Fox News, Winik was among the first to compare president Trump with Andrew Jackson, a moniker that has stuck.

He has been published in every major paper, including being a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal, and has appeared on every major television and radio station, from Fox to CBS to ABC to C-SPAN to NPR. He has been widely written up, from the NYT to the Washington Post and the Economist. His books have all received rave reviews: the New York Times hailed his April 1865 as "Brilliant… Epic" while the Wall Street Journal called it "magnificent." His most recent book, 1944, about FDR and the Holocaust and D-Day, stimulated a broad national conversation about morality in foreign-policy, and Time magazine called it "haunting" while NBC called it "monumental." Meanwhile, his book about the founding of the modern world, The Great Upheaval, was uniquely reviewed by three separate Pulitzer Prize winners, and deemed by the Wall Street Journal "remarkable."

His avid fans include Presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton; much of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Roberts; countless senators, including the Majority and Minority leaders; and celebrities such as Jamie Lee Curtis and Tom Hanks, who recently gave Winik a resounding shout-out in the New York Times in his interview with Maureen Dowd, and has declared himself Winik's "biggest fan." Gen. David Petraeus has said that if there's one person "I had to meet," it was Jay Winik.

With an uncanny ability to connect the past with the present, Winik's talks are at once spellbinding and gripping, and invariably leave his audience feeling that their world has been transformed. He dazzles his listeners in small intimate elegant salons, and groups of thousands, including recently being interviewed by renowned philanthropist David Rubenstein before 300 members of Congress at the Library of Congress, which included the Vice President and Senate Minority Leader. With brilliant analysis Winik reveals the leadership secrets of towering figures in history, including great presidents, and their ability to overcome immense obstacles against all the odds.