Russell A. Berman, born on May 14, 1950, in Boston, Massachusetts, is a prominent academic and public intellectual. He earned a B.A. from Harvard University in 1972, an M.A. in German Literature from Washington University in St. Louis in 1976, and a Ph.D. in German Literature from the same institution in 1979. Berman joined the faculty at Stanford University in 1979, where he has served as Professor of Comparative Literature, Professor of German Studies (since 1988), and Walter A. Haas Professor in the Humanities (since 1998). He is also a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution (since 2007), serving as Director of the Working Group on the Middle East and the Islamic World. Berman has been involved with the Telos journal since the mid-1970s, becoming Editor in 2004 and later Editor Emeritus. His leadership roles include President of the Modern Language Association in 2011. In public service, he was appointed by President Trump as a remaining member of the National Council on the Humanities, served as Senior Advisor on the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State (2019–2020), and was a member of the Commission on Unalienable Rights convened by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Berman's research interests encompass the literature and culture of German-speaking Europe and the Middle East, international relations and foreign policy, cultural theory, religion, and culture. Notable publications include Anti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem (2004), Freedom or Terror: Europe Faces Jihad (2010), and Fiction Sets You Free: On Literature In History (2007). His awards and honors include the Mellon Faculty Fellowship at Harvard, Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship in Berlin, Bundesverdienstkreuz (1997) from Germany, two Outstanding Book Awards from the German Studies Association (1988, 2000), the Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award for Undergraduate Teaching at Stanford (2013), and the Dean's Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching at Stanford (2014).