Born and educated in Montreal, Raymond (Ray) Taras received his graduate degrees including his doctorate at universities in Europe. He began publishing scholarly books in the 1980s and has authored or edited over twenty books--on the collapse of the USSR, Russia's identity in international relations, the rise of liberal and illiberal nationalisms, the internationalization of ethnic conflicts, the menace of xenophobia, the critique of multiculturalism, and the impact of public fears on European foreign policy. He has served on the faculty of universities in North America and Europe including Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, the European University Institute, Malmö, Warsaw, and Sussex. He has lived in New Orleans and teaches at Tulane University and spends part of the year in Salt Lake City. His personal interests include world literature, the Sundance Film Festival, skiing, running, and border collies.