Historian Niall Ferguson to Speak at Tufts

“The Financial Crisis and the Descent of the West” Topic of Ferguson’s October Speech

Tufts University will present prominent economic and financial historian Niall Ferguson, MA, D. Phil., as the 15th speaker in the Richard E. Snyder President’s Lecture Series on October 13 at 4:30 p.m. in Distler Performance Hall, Granoff Music Center, on Tufts’ Medford/Somerville campus. Tickets for the lecture will be available on October 6 at the front desk of Dowling Hall Student Services Center.

A weekly columnist for Newsweek and a contributing editor for Bloomberg Television, Ferguson is a prolific commentator on contemporary politics and economics and writes and reviews regularly for the British and American press. Named one of the world’s most influential people by Time Magazine, he was one of a handful of economic writers who accurately predicted the financial crisis that began in 2007.

At Tufts, Ferguson’s bold, often controversial views will be the basis of his discussion “The Financial Crisis and the Descent of the West.”

The Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, senior research fellow at Jesus College at Oxford University, and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, Ferguson focuses on economic and financial history, international relations and military conflict.

Described as a “rock-star historian” for his debating style and thought-provoking opinions, Ferguson is exactly the sort of figure Richard E. Snyder had in mind when he established the President’s Lecture Series at Tufts. The series — endowed by Snyder, a 1995 Tufts graduate and former chairman and CEO of Simon and Schuster — is designed to bring to Tufts speakers who challenge conventional wisdom in their professional work.

Ferguson is known for his bestselling book “Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power” (2003), charting the entire rise and fall of the British Empire. Other books he has authored include “Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire” (2004), “The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West” (2006), “The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World” (2008) and “The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburg” (2010). His most recent book, “Civilization: The West and the Rest,” will be published in November 2011.

Ferguson is also an award-winning documentary maker. He has created documentaries on his books “Empire” and “Colossus” and a series on PBS for his books “The War of the World” and “The Ascent of Money.” For “The Ascent of Money,” he won the International Emmy award for best documentary. A film based on his interviews with Henry Kissinger won similar recognition at the 2011 New York Film Festival.

– Information from Tufts University