Charles King is Professor of International Affairs and Government at Georgetown University. He lectures widely on international affairs, social violence, and ethnic politics, and has worked with major broadcast media such as CNN, National Public Radio, the BBC, the History Channel, and MTV. He previously served as chairman of the faculty of Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

He is the author of five books, including Odessa: Genius and Death in a City of Dreams, The Ghost of Freedom: A History of the Caucasus, and The Black Sea: A History, and his work has been translated into more than ten languages. King’s articles and commentary have appeared in magazines and newspapers such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Times Literary Supplement, as well as in leading academic journals.

King grew up on a cattle farm in the Ozark foothills of northwest Arkansas, one hollow over from J. William Fulbright’s rural home at Rabbit’s Foot Lodge. He studied history and philosophy at the University of Arkansas and later earned master’s and doctoral degrees at Oxford University, where he was a British Marshall Scholar. Before coming to Georgetown, he was a junior research fellow at New College, Oxford, and a research associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, the writer and anthropologist Margaret Paxson.