Christopher McKnight Nichols is professor of history and Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security Studies, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, at the Ohio State University. An Andrew Carnegie Fellow and award-winning scholar and teacher, Nichols is the author or editor of six books, including Promise and Peril: America at the Dawn of a Global Age (2011) and Rethinking American Grand Strategy (2021).

David Milne is professor of modern history at the University of East Anglia. His books include Worldmaking: The Art and Science of American Diplomacy (2015).