James Mann is an author-in-residence at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He is a former Washington correspondent, foreign policy columnist and Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, where he worked from 1978 to 2001, and is the author of Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush’s War Cabinet (Viking/Penguin, 2004). He has also written two other books, both regarding Sino-American Relations: Beijing Jeep (1989) and About Face: A History of America’s Curious Relations with China from Nixon to Clinton (1999). The latter book won the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Award for book of the year by a journalist and its Japanese edition was awarded the Asia-Pacific Prize for best book about Asia.

Before joining the LA Times, Mann also worked for the New Haven Journal-Courier, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Baltimore Sun. His reporting on American foreign policy was awarded Georgetown University’s Edward Weintal Prize (1999) for distinguished coverage of international affairs, and he was also twice the winner of the Edwin M. Hood Award (1993, 1999) for diplomatic reporting. Mann has also been a commentator for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and has written for The Atlantic, New Republic, and various other magazines and newspapers. A graduate of Harvard College, he is married to Caroline E. Dexter, professor of Classics at Howard University.