Samuel Aaron Moyn (born 1972) is the Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University, previously the Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence at

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

and Professor of History at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, which he joined in July 2017. He was a professor of history at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

for thirteen years and a professor of history and of law at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

for three years. His research interests are in modern European

intellectual history Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualization, conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of ...

, with special interests in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, political and legal thought, historical and critical theory, and Jewish studies. He has been co-director of the New York-area Consortium for Intellectual and Cultural History, is editor of the journal ''Humanity'', and has editorial positions at several other publications.

Academic career

After attending University City High School in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, Moyn earned his A.B. degree from Washington University in St. Louis in history and French literature (1994). He continued his education, earning a Ph.D. from the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

(2000) and his J.D. from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

(2001). In 2007, Moyn received

's annual Mark Van Doren Award for outstanding undergraduate teaching, determined by undergraduates, and its Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award for "unusual merit across a range of professorial activities". In 2008, he won a

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

, and is currently a Berggruen Fellow at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard. He is also a fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

Personal life

Samuel Moyn is Jewish. He is married.

Publications

Books

*
Origins of the Other: Emmanuel Levinas between Revelation and Ethics
' (2005,

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University, an Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. It is currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, maki ...

) *''A Holocaust Controversy: The Treblinka Affair in Postwar France'' (2005,

Brandeis University Press Brandeis University Press is a university press supported by Brandeis University, a private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, Waltham, Massachusetts. It publishes a wide range of academic titles as well as trade books. The press was ...

) * Pierre Rosanvallon, ''Democracy Past and Future'' (2006, editor Samuel Moyn,

Columbia University Press Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's la ...

) * ''The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History'' (2010,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

) *
Human Rights and the Uses of History
' (2014,

Verso ''Recto'' is the "right" or "front" side and ''verso'' is the "left" or "back" side when text is written or printed on a leaf of paper () in a bound item such as a codex, book, broadsheet, or pamphlet. In double-sided printing, each leaf h ...

) *
Christian Human Rights
' (2015,

University of Pennsylvania Press The University of Pennsylvania Press, also known as Penn Press, is a university press affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History The press was originally incorporated with b ...

) * ''Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World'' (2018,

) * ''Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War'' (2021, Macmillan) * ''Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times'' (2023, Yale University Press)

Selected articles

* "Imperial Graveyard" (review of George Packer, ''Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century'', Cape, 2019, 592 pp., ), ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Book ...

'', vol. 42, no. 3 (6 February 2020), pp. 23–25. Moyn concludes his review, on p. 25: " acker's book''Our Man'' may be the most vivid tour of America's foreign delusions that has been offered since the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

."
"The Road to Hell"
(review of

Samantha Power Samantha Jane Power (born September 21, 1970) is an Irish-American journalist, diplomat, and government official who served as the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development from 2021 to 2025. She was the 28th Unite ...

's ''The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir''), ''American Affairs Journal'' Vol. IV, Spring 2020 pp. 149–160.
"Michael Ratner's Tragedy, and Ours"
(essay adapted by the author from his 2021 book ''Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War''), ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...

'', September 1, 2021.

References

External links

Top Young Historians: Samuel Moyn
on History News Network
New York-area Consortium for Intellectual and Cultural History The Court is not Your Friend,Samuel Moyn,Dissent Magazine, Winter 2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moyn, Samuel 1972 births Living people 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers Columbia University faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni Harvard Law School alumni Washington University in St. Louis alumni Intellectual historians 20th-century American Jews American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews