Ruth Ben-Ghiat (born April 17, 1960) is an American history professor and political commentator. She is a scholar on fascism and authoritarian leaders. Ben-Ghiat is a professor of history and Italian studies at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Biography

Born in the United States to a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

mother and an Israeli

Sephardi Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

Jewish father, she grew up in

Pacific Palisades, California Pacific Palisades is a neighborhood in the Westside Los Angeles, Westside region of the city of Los Angeles, California, situated about west of downtown Los Angeles. Throughout January 2025, the majority of Pacific Palisades was severely affec ...

. She has a history degree from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and obtained her Ph.D. in

comparative history Comparative history is the comparison of different societies which existed during the same time period or shared similar cultural conditions. The comparative history of societies emerged as an important specialty among intellectuals in the Enlight ...

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

. A member of the

American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...

since 1990, she is a professor of history and Italian studies at

. Ben-Ghiat was the Spring 2023 Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals at the

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system and houses the main offic ...

. She regularly writes for

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'', and ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

''. She is an advisor to

Protect Democracy Protect Democracy is a nonprofit organization based in the United States. A nonpartisan group, Protect Democracy seeks to check what it believes are authoritarian attacks on U.S. democracy. Protect Democracy states that it seeks to use litigatio ...

, an organization opposing attacks on U.S. democracy.

Works

Books

* * * * * * Reviews of ''Strongmen'': * * * * * * * *Michael R. Ebner, ''The Journal of Interdisciplinary History'', *Michael H. Traison, ''Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs'', *Jessica T. Mathews, ''Foreign Affairs'', *Nicola D’Elia, ''European Review of History'',

Journal articles

* * * * * *

Ph.D. dissertation

References

External links

*
Ruth Ben Ghiat
Arts and Science faculty at

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben-Ghiat, Ruth 1960 births Living people 21st-century American historians 21st-century American women writers American people of Scottish descent American people of Israeli descent American people of Sephardic-Jewish descent American women historians Brandeis University alumni Historians of fascism Jewish American historians New York University faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni