Nicholas Evan Sarantakes

Nicholas Evan Sarantakes is a historian, specializing in the World War II and Cold War eras. He is a professor in the strategy and policy department at the U.S. Naval War College. He grew up in various parts of the United States--and some foreign countries--courtesy of his father's military career.

While an undergraduate at the University of Texas, he worked for the school paper, "The Daily Texan," which at the time was the biggest college daily in the country. While there, he discovered that he had some talent at writing. Always a fan of history, the courses he took from Robert A. Divine inspired him to become a historian himself. Long story made short--he has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Southern California.

Despite this academic training, Sarantakes thinks of himself primarily as a writer and is constantly trying to stretch as a professional. Most of his publications have come in history, but he occasionally works in journalism. He also reviews fiction and non-fiction for the "Sacramento Book Review" and the "San Francisco Book Review." He has written articles that have appeared in outlets such the "English Historical Review" (a British academic journal), "Joint Forces Quarterly" (a professional military magazine), and ESPN.com. He has won five writing awards: the H. Bailey Carroll Award from the Texas State Historical Association, the Kiley Prize from the National Defense University Foundation, and a Bronze Pen Award and two Silver Pen Awards from the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College. Sarantakes is also the chair of a book prize committee for the American Historical Association, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

His first three books have focused on World War II in the Pacific and its aftermath. His fourth book will be on the 1980 Olympic boycott. Before arriving at the Naval War College, he taught at Texas A&M University--Commerce, the Air War College, the University of Southern Mississippi, and the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College.