Who is Max Boot? Here are 5 Facts You Need To Know

Quick Facts

Popularly known as one of the global authorities on armed conflict, Max Boot is a bundle of talent. He was given this recognition by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. As a historian, he has represented the U.S. State Department in lectures that involves war history. His lecturing services have also been deployed in many military institutions which include the Australian Defense College, the Naval Academy, the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare School and the three War Colleges (Air, Army, and Navy).

Who Is Max Boot?

The story of Max’s life begins in Moscow in the then-Soviet Union on September 16, 1969. He studied at the University of California, Berekely, where he later reveals that he was the only writer on the school newspaper with a conservative voice. Boot secured a Bachelors in History in 1991 before getting his Masters in Diplomatic History from Yale University the following year.

As a foreign policy analyst, he served as a senior foreign policy adviser in the presidential campaign of between 2007 and 2008. He held a similar role for Mitt Romney’s campaign between 2011 and 2012, and then for ’s campaign between 2015 and 2016. He was the adviser to the U.S. commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq. At the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), he serves as the Jeane Kirkpatrick senior fellow for National Security Studies. Max is an analyst on global affairs for CNN and a columnist at The Washington Post.

His time as a history writer can be traced back to 1992. At that time, he was writing and editing for The Christian Science Monitor. He moved over to Wall Street as a writer and editor for their journal. This he did for eight years before joining CFR in 2002. For his contributions to journalism, in 2007, he bagged the Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism.

Here Are 5 Facts You Need to Know About Max Boot

1. Max Is An Immigrant

When success stories are written about those who came to America and lived the American dream, Max should make a paragraph. His parents, Alexander Boot and Olga E. Kagan (Late), were Russian Jews who gave birth to him in Moscow. They immigrated from the then Soviet Union in 1976 to Los Angeles, where Max grew up. They didn’t come to America as diplomats, but as refugees who fled the oppression of the Soviet Union. Max was 7 years old at the time.

In one of his columns at The Washington Post, he talked about how he had blended in so much so that people seldom believe his origin is not American. He doesn’t have an accent and he does not talk about his origin too often. Meanwhile, his father is still alive but his mom passed on April 6, 2018.

2. He Is A Conservative

Just like every other American, he has his particular political perspective. He is a conservative or what he likes to call a “natural contrarian”. This has informed his participation and involvement in American politics.

He supports social liberalism, LGBTQ rights, abortion rights, and immigration (of course, he’s an immigrant himself). As a conservative, he thinks there is a need for the government to cut down the deficit and put control over entitlement spending. He is also a strong believer in freedom.

3. Max Boot Has Authored Seven Books

No doubt, Max is a best selling author with his books selling widely online and offline.

• Out of Order was published on the 8th of May, 1998. In the book, he tried to uncover the ills and corruption among judges. He opened up issues like broad constitutional interpretations, desegregation of Virginia Military Institute, and the use of the Miranda doctrine.
• The “American Empire” In The Middle East was published on the 28th of January, 2004.
• War Made New was published on October 19th, 2006. In this book, Max combined narration of history with in-depth analysis. He explained how inventions have shaped the rise and fall of great empires.
• Invisible Army was published on December 23, 2012. He tried to make comparisons between insurgency in the medieval era and that of the modern era.
• The Savage Wars Of Peace: Small Wars And The Rise Of American Power was published on March 11, 2014.
• The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam was published on January 9, 2018
• The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right was published on October 9, 2018

4. He Believes There Is Still Racism In America

In a 2017 article on the Foreign Policy magazine titled, 2017 Was the Year I Learned About My White Privilege, Max narrated how he feels that “white privilege” is still in play. He even accused Trump’s administration of making it difficult to realize the rights of Americans to pursue their dreams, irrespective of gender, sexuality, religion, or skin color. He said that behind the fight against sexism and racism, there is a hidden agenda to promote the same things that are being fought against.

5. He Has Been Criticized To Be A Warmonger

In wake of Max’s introduction to the Washington Post’s opinion team, Adam Johnson accused him of being a warmonger that should not have been brought into the fold. He made this criticism in his post on the Fairness & Accuracy in Report (FAIR) blog titled, Another Warmonger Rewarded for Being Wrong on Iraq War. This was based on the fact that Max’s opinions were in favor of the Iraqi invasion. This assertion is also shared by Mark Ames of The Nation and Tucker Carlson of The American Conservative.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.