My Watch List

Here's a list of people I wish I had the time to read and sometimes do. The list is cribbed from foreignpolicy.com's Top 100 Public Intellectuals list:

Mahmood Mamdani, Uganda
Cultural anthropologist

Mamdani is the Herbert Lehman professor of government in the anthropology, political science, and international affairs departments at Columbia University and was director of the Institute of African Studies there until 2004. He is the author most recently of Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror.

Olivier Roy, France
Political scientist

One of the world’s top scholars of political Islam and terrorist movements, Roy is research director at the French National Center for Scientific Research. His 1992 book The Failure of Political Islam remains essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand contemporary Islamism.


Fareed Zakaria, United States
Journalist, author

Zakaria is the editor of Newsweek International, overseeing all Newsweek's editions abroad. Zakaria has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The New Republic, and the webzine Slate.

Ramachandra Guha, India
Historian

An Indian historian, columnist and MacArthur fellow, Guha has taught in the United States, Norway, and now in Bangalore. He is author of India After Gandhi.


Alex de Waal, Britain
Writer, Africa activist

A program director at the Social Science Research Council, de Waal is a frequently cited expert on the Darfur crisis and on African health issues.