author
Quincy Wright
1890–1970
Known for bringing careful research to the study of war and peace, this American political scientist helped shape modern thinking about international law and international relations. His landmark work asked big questions about why wars begin and how they might be prevented.
1 Audiobook
Prize Money
by Quincy Wright
About the author
Born in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1890, Quincy Wright became one of the leading American scholars of international law and international relations. He studied at Lombard College and the University of Illinois, then spent much of his career at the University of Chicago, where he taught and wrote on war, diplomacy, and world order.
He is best remembered for A Study of War (1942), a major work that drew on history, law, and social science to examine the causes and patterns of conflict. That wide-ranging approach made him an important early voice in the systematic study of war and peace.
Across his career, Wright also advised governments and international organizations and wrote extensively about the possibilities and limits of global cooperation. His work remains notable for combining legal scholarship with a broad, practical interest in how nations might reduce conflict.