Wilson Center Experts

James Reston is the author of 13 books, three plays, and numerous articles in national magazines. He was awarded the Prix Italia and the Dupont-Columbia Award for his 1983 90 minute radio documentary on National Public Radio, "Father Cares: the Last of Jonestown." His last three works, Galileo: A Life, The Last Apocalypse, and Warriors of God, have been translated into ten foreign languages. Warriors of God and Collision at Home Plate have been optioned by Hollywood. His articles have appeared in the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Time, The New York Times Magazine, George, Esquire, American Theatre, Playboy, and Rolling Stone.

In recent years he has lectured widely in the United States and overseas on the millennium and the crusades, citing their relevance to modern issues. In addition to his tenure at the Wilson Center, he has been a fellow at the American Academy in Rome and a scholar in residence at the Library of Congress.Born in New York in 1941, he was raised in Washington, D.C. and attended the University of North Carolina on a Morehead Scholarship where he earned his B.A. in philosophy. At UNC he was an All South soccer player and after 42 years still holds the single game scoring record for the university. Reston was an assistant to U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Steward Udall, 1964-65 and served in the U.S. Army, 1965-68. He was a lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina, 1971-81. Reston is married, has three children and lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland.