Sarah Snyder is a historian who specializes in the influence of nonstate actors such as human rights activists and overseas Americans on U.S. foreign relations. She is the author of From Selma to Moscow: How Human Rights Activists Transformed U.S. Foreign Policy (Columbia University Press, 2018), which explains how transnational connections and 1960s-era social movements inspired Americans to advocate for a new approach to human rights.
Her first book, Human Rights Activism and the End of the Cold War: A Transnational History of the Helsinki Network (Cambridge University Press), analyzes the development of a transnational network devoted to human rights advocacy and its contributions to the end of the Cold War. Together with Darren Dochuk, she serves as Executive Editor of the journal Modern American History. She is also the founding editor, alongside Jay Sexton, of Columbia University Press’s book series Global America. A life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she has been recognized as a distinguished lecturer by the Organization of American Historians. In addition, she co-edited The CSCE and the End of the Cold War: Diplomacy, Societies and Human Rights, 1972–1990 (with Nicolas Badalassi; Berghahn Books, 2018).
While in residence at the RIAS, Professor Snyder will work on her book manuscript Unofficial Diplomats: How Overseas Americans Have Shaped U.S. Foreign Relations, which is under contract with Princeton University Press. The book is a history of Americans abroad and how they have influenced U.S. foreign policy for over two centuries. She recently chaired a panel at the international conference “A Water’s History of the United States.” Finally, she will participate in several RIAS seminars.
